Forced to Wed a Prince
by BlackButteflyE
Summary: With Sam sick and John too drunk to coordinate his family Dean has taken them to their family friends place in the Angel Village. However Dean is forced to enter a contest to become the prince's bride so they don't get kicked out of the village. He hopes to get out of the contest as soon as possible but he doesn't expect the prince to take a liking to him.
1. Chapter One: New Tenants, New Entrants

**Warnings:** Mentions of **alcoholism**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Supernatural.

**Overall Romance:** Destiel

**Authoress' Note:** _So I decided to rewrite the chapters already written and hopefully get my muse back. The first chapters are hard to get through because all the interesting stuff happens later. So I'm going to devote myself to this. Plus I've had no new ideas for 'Mine' so yeah. Like the last time I wrote this, words in Latin will be written as such: "English Italics"_

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**Chapter One: New Tenants, New Entrants**

The Winchester family was a small tight knit one. They barely spoke to anyone aside from a few friends and hopped from town to town trying to find a place they could call 'home'. They used to have a great home, it was small that never mattered. But it was burned to the ground taking the life of Mary Winchester as it did.

The father of the family, John Winchester, took the death of his wife hard. He started to drown his sorrows in alcohol as much as he possible could in an attempt to forget the pain. He tried to stay strong for the two boys he needed to take care of but he couldn't keep a grip on things after he found out about the youngest one's …'condition'.

Sam Winchester was cursed, according to his father. He occasionally had visions of people dying. When he was young it never really happened and it never caused problems. But from age eight to fourteen the visions and pain along with them has progressed. It gives him intense headaches, blood noses, and, more often than his older brother liked, it would cause him to faint, loose sleep or even become feverish.

Dean Winchester was the eldest of the two brothers and the one carrying the family onwards. He carried the weight of their struggles on his shoulders and always blamed himself if anything went wrong along the trip. He was strong, cheeky but polite and a natural born leader. The only way to hurt him was through his family and nothing a person could say would be worse than anything he said to himself. But he kept the pessimism and self-loath locked up in a metal box with thousands of chians over it to keep moving on.

They were such a broken and lost family. One would come to wonder how they were allowed to live in the Angel Village.

The Angelus Village, Village of Angels, or Angel Kingdom as it was commonly called, was the most extravagant village in all the land. The richest of people wanted to live in it's beautiful area but they were turned down at the gate. So how did the Winchester family get in?

Robert Singer, Ellen Harvelle and Missouri Mosely. These were the family friends of the Winchesters and all of which were residents in the Angel Kingdom. They had migrated after different events and tragedies but they loved the Kingdom. The King was fair and kind and he made the place enjoyable unlike other places.

Robert, or Bobby as he was mainly called, Ellen and Missouri had always sent word to John telling them to come and live there but each time the gruff old Winchester refused. He dragged Sam and Dean across the country while he was still able to walk around and be sober. But now Dean took care of taking them to places, working and ensuring they were fed.

However, with Johns declining sobriety and Sam's illness getting worse with his visions, Dean was forced to disobey his father and sent word to Bobby to say they would come and live with him if he had space. So in their family carriage dragged along by the ever faithful Impala and Charger, the two family horses, they set off towards the Angel Village.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

The autumn wind was crisp with the approaching winter as the family travelled towards the Angel Kingdom. Dean hummed softly from his spot at the front of the carriage in an attempt to soothe Sam's restless dreams. Both Sam and John were lying asleep in the almost empty carriage. They had various furs and blankets which were currently keeping Sam and John warm as they slept. And a few pieces of bread and cheese which Dean had gotten from a lovely young lady. Thankfully they were close to the Angel Village.

Dean looked over at his brother and frowned sadly. He was stacked under a few blankets and clutching the end of Dean's coat. The young teen hadn't woken up for at least half a day and Dean was starting to get immensely worried. He hoped they could make it to see Missouri soon.

Missouri was a family doctor who went around to houses and tended to those in need of her assistance. She was often shunned for her skin colour and the fact that she was a female but in the Angel Village she was well sought out. She was kind but firm and Dean loved her to death even with her sass.

"We'll be there soon Sammy." Dean whispered gently patting his brother's mop of brown hair. Impala neighed loudly startling Dean slightly. "Whoa!" He exclaimed. "Quiet baby, Sam's sleeping." Impala flicked her head and continued on silently. Dean continued to hum softly as his mother had done to him when he was a child. After several minutes he felt Sam's death grip on his coat loosen. When he looked over his shoulder the younger Winchester was sound asleep. Dean smiled with relief and steered their carriage towards the gates of the village.

The gates alone were astounding with their tall pearly white iron rods curled into several spirals and smaller round coils. They looked much like what Dean thought the gates of Heaven would look like. He stopped the carriage and stared at the gates in awe until he realised he was being yelled at.

_"State your purpose!" _A guard barked at him. Dean snapped his head down to look at the two guards who were standing at the front of the gate on either side of the entrance. The guard said something else but Dean didn't catch it. He wasn't very fluent in Latin as his father was or his brother. But he did understand a few things, it just took him a while.

_"If you do not speak we will be forced to arrest you!" _The second guard spat out.

"Um…Hello?" Dean replied in English, hoping that they knew how to speak it.

"Oh, an English speaker." The second guard said. "State your purpose."

"Right, Robert Singer –" Instantly the guards relaxed and chuckled.

"You're Dean Winchester right? Bobby said you would be arriving soon." The first Guard said with a smile. Dean smiled back with a nod of his head. The second one worked towards opening the gates. Once they were fully open the other guard stood out of the way. "You can go through."

"Thank you, have a nice day." Dean replied politely.

He steered the carriage through the gate and observed the empty streets. It was early but even the merchants should have been wandering around, setting up their stores and such.

_'Perhaps they are at another part of town?' _Dean thought to himself then frowned when he heard Sam whimpering.

"Dean!" A gruff voice called out. Dean whipped his head around to see Bobby calling out to him by an empty stall. Dean grinned, the man still looked the same as he did back when Dean had seen him last. It was a comforting sight. The older man walked up to him and grasped his shoulder with a small smile.

"Sam's asleep." Dean whispered. "He hasn't woken up since I put him to bed last night." Bobby frowned at the news and peered in the carriage. He saw Sam sleeping and his eyes softened before they landed on John and they narrowed.

"The idjit got drunk off his ass again didn't he?" Bobby accused. All Dean could do was rub the back of his neck. Bobby cursed and took the reins of the hoses in his hand as he started to lead them the way home.

Dean would have jumped off to join the older man but he was busy trying to calm Sam down. The younger boy was shivering, whimpering and had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Is he getting worse?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah." Dean mumbled in response. He sighed in relief when they stopped in front of what appeared to be the older man's house.

"I'll get Missouri. Jo and Ash are around and they can help ya get ys stuff in order." Bobby said. He turned to go and get Missouri but Dean stopped him.

"Thank you Bobby." Dean said earnestly. Bobby only smiled.

"Get going ya idjit." He said fondly before leaving.

Dean hopped off the carriage and saw Jo jog out from the front door. She greeted him with a grin and a tight hug.

"It's been so long!" She exclaimed. Dean laughed and patted her head grinning.

"You've grown but you're still such a short girl." He commented earing a jab to his ribs. Her older brother Ash strolled out scratching his chest looking a little tired. "Hey Ash, how are you?"

"Been good." The older male replied. "Sis's been a pain in my ass and Ma's been harping on about my hair." He made a point of flicking his oddly cut hair over his shoulder. While the front of it was short the back of it was long and thin.

"Man you've changed since last we met." Dean laughed clapping a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Anyway, help me carry dad to the spare room?"

"Bobby says he's goin' in the back room." Ash commented as they climbed into the back.

Jo started putting the small amounts of belongs they had in the rooms they would be staying in. Since there were so little, as John had sold most of their things for alcohol money, she was done easily. She sat beside Sam in the carriage and stroked his hair gently.

"It's alright Sam." She said gently. "Everything's going to be okay." She remembered when Sam was younger and he used to play games with Ash, Dean and herself. He was so full of life back then. Dean and Ash came back and she sighed.

"Dean, you should get Pamela or Missouri to take a look over Sam." She said worried. Dean nodded looking at his younger brother with guilt and sympathetic laced eyes. He got into the carriage and picked up his little brother keeping the blankets wrapped rightly around him and holding him close. Sam was thinner than before and it made Dean want to punch himself for not getting more food or anything else that might help the younger boy.

"Bobby went to get Missouri. Can you take Impala, Charger and the carriage around to the back?" Dean asked. Sam unconsciously wrapped his arms around Dean's neck and hugged himself closer to his brother as if he would make the nightmares go away. Dean grit his teeth and walked into the house heading straight for the room they would stay in.

He lay Sam gently in one of the bed and stroked his hair. The teen relaxed somewhat and Dean sighed with relief. He started to hum but eventually it progressed to soft singing. While Dean couldn't speak a lot of Latin he remembered a lullaby his mother had taught and sung to him when he was a child. He sang it to Sam on rare occasions only because it made him sad to think about. He wished his mother was alive to tend to him, his brother and their dad.

"Dean…" Sam croaked. Dean smiled relieved that his brother was awake.

"Hey Sammy, how you feeling?" He asked.

"Crap…" Sam mumbled. "Where are we?"

"We're at Bobby's. We're gonna stay here for a while…okay?" Dean replied. Sam nodded and smiled.

"We get to see our old friends." He commented.

"Of course, but for now get some rest." Dean coaxed.

"But the nightmares…" Sam interrupted. "I don't think…I don't want to go to sleep Dean…they're getting worse…"

"I'll watch over you Sam, I promise." Dean said holding Sam's hand gently.

"Can I please stay up with you Dean?" Sam asked using his ultimate begging move; the puppy dog eyes. Dean bit his lip and Sam smiled. "I want to spend some time with you."

"Alright. But only until Missouri comes over." He replied.

"Of course!" Sam chirped excitedly and scrambled to sit up. He instantly started to cough and splutter so Dean rubbed his back until he calmed down. The pained look on his face did not go missed by Sam but the younger Winchester chose not to comment on it.

"Jo and Ash are here-"

"And Ellen too." An older woman said from the doorway. She leaned against it with a grin on her face obviously pleased to see them.

"Ellen!" Sam and Dean exclaimed simultaneously.

Ellen Harvelle owned a tavern known as 'The Roadhouse' which was always booming with business from what they heart. They never doubted Ellen's business. Ellen was a strong confident woman who was nice as long as you weren't disrespectful or rowdy. She used to own a tavern with her husband, but after he passed away and the previous tavern burned down to the ground she took Jo and Ash to the Angel Village and everything was better.

Ellen walked over to the two boys and gave them a hug.

"Hello boys." She greeted smiling. "How are you Sam?"

"I'm okay." Sam said before another coughing fit hit him. Dean looked guilty as he rubbed his brother's back. The look on his face did not go unnoticed by Ellen.

"Dean Winchester don't you dare blame yourself for this!" She snapped. "You've taken damn good care of him. Better than what your daddy's done." Dean gaped at her like a fish but the look on her face obviously showed she wasn't going to argue about it so he simply nodded his head. Ellen gave him a sharp nod back. "Missouri's here, that's what I came here to tell you."

"Thank God…" Dean breathed. Missouri walked in carrying a bag of various things. She gave him a quick hug before ushering him out of the room telling him to wait with Jo and Ash while she tended to Sam.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Dean sat with Jo resisting the urge to jump up and pace. They were sitting in tense silence until there was a knock on the front door. Jo went to answer the door leaving Dean to sit and worry over Sam.

_'I hope he's okay.' _He thought. _'The coughing is new…maybe it was from that really sandy path I took…I mean it was a shortcut…I just wanted to get here faster…Oh God…'_

"Hey Dean!" A familiar voice greeted. Dean looked up to see Adam Milligan standing with Jo in the living room.

"Adam!" Dean exclaimed surprised. "You live in the Angel Village?"

"Yeah, for about three months now with my mom." Adam replied. "It's been so long, you probably picked the worst time to come over." Dean frowned obviously confused. The Angel Village was the best place to live from what he'd heard. What could possibly be bad about the timeframe he chose to come?

"The bride contest is just around the corner. The sign-up sheets are out today though." Jo explained with excitement seeping into her tone.

"Bride contest?" Dean asked. "What does that have to do with anything? I don't have to be involved in it or anything."

"In this kingdom there are many princes, occasionally they hold a bride contest to find a partner for one of the princes. Every girl aged eighteen has to join up-"

"Why does this concern me though? Do I look like a girl to you Adam?" Dean interrupted glaring at his friend.

"Males have to enter as well." Adam finished. "If there's no female member in your family around the age bracket and there's a male in the age bracket then males have to enter."

"What?" Dean asked. "You're kidding."

"I've entered. Jo's entered." Adam replied. "There are at least two boy entrants now."

"Wait a second…so you're saying I have to sign up to a contest I don't even want to participate in to…marry a prince?" Dean asked. Adam and Jo nodded looking really eager. "Okay I can get why Jo's eager but Adam last I checked you're not a homosexual. Why so eager?"

"It's Prince Castiel this year." Jo practically swooned.

"He's handsome and smart." Adam added grinning. "Also I never found a preference Dean."

"I aint signing up for no shit like that!" Dean huffed. "I should get a say in who I want to marry." Jo and Adam shared a look that Dean didn't like the looks of at all but before they could say anything Missouri came back into the room.

"How's Sam?" Dean asked instantly at her side. Missouri gave him a kind yet pained smile. Dean felt dread build up in his gut and his face fell.

"He has a slight fever, I need you to get some medicine for him. Did you see a sign that said 'Pamela's' on your way in?" She asked. Dean only thought about it for a quick second and responded.

"Yeah, I did." He said quickly.

"Go there and show this to the young woman working there, she will get what you need and put it on my tab." Missouri instructed passing over a piece of paper. Dean nodded and practically ran out of the house to get what she needed. Adam and Jo made a move to follow him but Missouri stopped them.

"That boy needs to go alone." She said.

"But he needs to know more about the bride contest." Jo argued. "He doesn't know about –"

"For him I believe it would be better to let him go in blind." She chuckled. "There's no use trying to convince him with the both of you going gaga over Prince Castiel."

"But still…he needs to know about the rule." Adam said frowning. "He'll put up a fight if he doesn't know."

"For now Dean has other things to worry about." Missouri replied. "Besides, that boy is going to attempt to get out as soon as the first round begins. Not everyone wants to participate."

"But-"

"No more buts." Missouri interrupted sharply. "Only time will tell what will happen. The contest starts in two days."

|…|

Dean moved his way through the now busy streets of the market area with difficulty. There were swarms of people trying to buy and merchants trying to sell. There were sandy clouds everywhere from the shuffling of multiple feet and screeches of sales in English and Latin filled the air.

_"The best in all the land!"_

_"Great prices!"_

_"Even Prince Gabriel approves of these!"_

Dean just wanted to get what he needed and go back to Sam.

"Excuse me!" He called trying to get through the crowd. "Can I please get through?!" A few people moved for him but others were more concerned with trying to buy things from various merchants.

Dean eventually found his way to a small alcove near a shop with no idea where he was or way to get out with the amount of people blocking the obvious path out. He had seen market before but he had never seen one as busy as this.

_'Damn it.' _He thought trying to get through the crowd again but to no avail.

Dean heard the sound of a thud behind him and turned quickly to see a man falling out of the side of a shop hut. He tried to get to his feet but because of the sand being kicked at him he had doubled over coughing. There was another man hissing at him in Latin kicking sand at him. Dean didn't bother to translate as he stepped in.

"Hey stop that." He said. "What did he do?"

"Tried to steal water from me." The other man, obviously shopkeeper, hissed and looked to spit on the other man. "Claims he forgot his wallet."

"Well obviously he's sick." Dean said as the man started to cough harder. Dean felt his pockets for some loose change. "How much is the water?" The shopkeeper thought for a moment before holding up five fingers.

"Five silver pieces since you're going to show such kindness." He said surprising Dean. He wouldn't give the man water but he would lower the price for a stranger who wanted to help? Weird. Dean handed over five silver pieces and was given a metal flask of water in return.

"Hey are you alright?" Dean asked helping the man on the floor to his feet. He passed over the water he just bought and watched the other man drink from it greedily. Dean took that time to observe him.

The man was young but obviously older than Dean and a few inches taller than him, he had a heard of short cropped blonde hair and ice blue coloured eyes. He wore a long grey cloak with a hood but underneath Dean could see he wore a simple pair of tight brown pants and a tight pale grey shirt.

_"Thank you."_ The man said in Latin. Dean bit his lip and attempted to remember how to respond in Latin but the man spoke again in English this time. "You're not from here are you?" He asked, he had a European accent but Dean couldn't recognise where it was from.

"No, I just moved here with my brother and father. I have a few family friends here." Dean replied. "Um…can we walk and talk? I have to get some medicine for my brother, he's ill."

"Yes, I will accompany you. I suppose you have no idea where you're going. You look a little lost." He said. Dean nodded with a nervous chuckle.

"I'm looking for a place called 'Pamela's'." He said.

"Follow me." The man said walking down a path behind the shop he had been kicked out from. Dean jogged to catch up with him.

"My name's Dean by the way." He introduced.

"My name is Balthazar." The other man replied and looked at Dean from the corner of his eye as if to gauge his reaction.

"Cool name." Dean replied with a grin. Balthazar smiled and they walked on.

The two walked through a less crowded section of the market and Dean could easily follow Balthazar because no one was pushing him or getting in his way.

"Sign-up sheets for the bride contest here!" A voice boomed over the crowd. "If you have not signed up yet then take the time to do it now!"

"Ugh…bride contest." Dean muttered as the man repeated the same thing but in Latin.

"Not your cup of tea?" Balthazar asked stopping. Dean stopped beside him and nodded.

"A person should marry who they love, not make a contest to find a bride." Dean said.

"Ah, but what if they have no choice?" Balthazar asked in response. "Besides, anyone who doesn't sign-up gets fined or even kicked out of the village." Dean paled at that information. He just got here and there was no way he could afford to get his family kicked out.

"T-that's bullshit." He breathed shocked.

"It's the norm here." Balthazar replied with a shrug. "How old are you? How old is your brother?"

"I'm eighteen, Sam's fourteen." Dean replied.

"No females in the family?" Balthazar asked. Dean shook his head. "You better sign up." Dean nodded and walked over to the sign-up table. Balthazar followed him and put his hood over his head wrapping his cloak around him tighter. Dean just guessed he was cold. He frowned but started to fill in the sign-up sheet. When he finished the man standing behind the stall gave him a broad grin.

"I wish you luck young man!" He said joyfully. Dean nodded with an awkward smile.

"It won't be so bad." Balthazar told him as he continued to lead him to Pamela's. "Everything will go fine, I'm sure of it."

"I have to take care of Sam…" Dean mumbled.

"Hey well, just see how you go." Balthazar said giving Dean a pat on his shoulder. "You're kind and good looking so you're bound to stay in a few rounds."

"Thanks…I guess?" Dean said a little confused. They stopped in front of a shop with a large sign on it that read 'Pamela's' in cursive calligraphy.

"Thank you for assisting me today." Balthazar said. "I will be on my way, it was nice to meet you Dean. I wish you all the best of luck with the contest."

"Thank you and no problem, take care of yourself." He replied. Balthazar grinned before walking away and disappearing into the crowd. Dean walked into the shop.


	2. Chapter Two: Lucky Amulets

**Warnings: **Little bit of violence er… Threatening

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters of Supernatural

**Authoress' Note: **_I'm kinda excited to start this up again. Sorry to all those who have to read the chapters again. But certain chapters (2 and when I wrote 4) were really short and boring. I hope to make each chapter long. I'm reading over the previous words and I can see all these typos oh dear lord how shameful of me to publish it. I should probably get a beta…but I'm too shy to asdfghjkl;. _

_I'm not going to make John a massive dick in this one but he's still gonna be dickish. Like in this chapter._

_Roughly Ash is about 26. Gabriel will be about the same age too. I know before I made it that Ash was like a year or two older than Dean but changed my mind~ _

_Thanks to all of you for being so patient._

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**Chapter Two: Lucky Amulets**

Dean made it back to Bobby's house in somewhat of a blur. The reality of the situation hadn't settled into his brain until he was standing in Bobby's living room after giving Missouri the medication she asked for. Dean Winchester had just signed up for a competition to get married to a prince.

_'Oh God…' _He thought as he sunk into one of Bobby's chairs while Missouri tended to Sam. _'I signed myself up to a marriage competition. Who the hell is going to take care of Sam? I mean we can't afford to get kicked out.' _

"Hey Dean, something the matter?" Jo asked upon her arrival. She pulled up a chair beside him and sat down.

"I signed…" He said and Jo tilted her head confused. "I signed up for the marriage contest." Jo squealed in delight and Dean winced.

"Great!" She exclaimed. "Prince Castiel is so dreamy." She sighed happily and Dean grimaced. She was like a love sick puppy.

"Jo who's going to take care of Sam and Dad?" He asked. "Ellen and Bobby have to work, they can't take care of them."

"Well you know if you don't en-"

"Then I get kicked out of the village, I know." Dean sighed and rubbed his face frowning. "I just…I don't want to bother anyone with the task because it's my job to take care of Sam…and I can't even do that properly."

"It's not supposed to be your job." Jo said and Dean cut her off from saying anything further knowing the sentence that was going to come out of her mouth next.

"Jo he's been through enough." He said firmly.

"So have you!" Jo exclaimed lividly. "Dean you-"

"Drop it Jo!" Dean growled. "I'm fine! I just need to take care of Sam." Jo gave him a look. He remembered it clearly as the 'You're pissing me off Winchester' look she and her mother had used on more than one occasion. It was very close to one of Sam's numerous bitch faces.

Missouri came downstairs and smiled at Dean but it was slightly pained.

"He's resting up now, the fever should pass hopefully soon." She said. "I can take care of him while you are at the contest sweetie."

"How did you-"

"Hush boy." She chuckled. "I have a few other clients to see, Sam has to take the medicine once in the morning and once at night. Make sure he gets plenty of food and water."

"Yes Miss Moseley." Dean said nodding his head obediently. She patted his cheek before saying her goodbyes and leaving the house. Dean instantly went to check on his little brother.

Sam was resting calmly on his bed, for once, with a candle burning in the room. The candle smelt like burning wood and cinnamon which was odd but Dean decided not to question it. He smiled at Sam when the boy smiled in his sleep. He decided to leave him to rest. He hadn't seen his brother so relaxed and comfortable in weeks.

Dean walked back to the lounge where Jo and Adam were talking to Ellen and Bobby about the bride contest.

"Dean signed up today as well!" Jo said beaming with joy.

_'Only because I didn't want to get kicked out.' _Dean thought to himself. He was obviously unhappy about the contest.

"Dean will be the third boy this year." Jo went on.

"Wait, who's the other guy?" Dean asked. "I know Adam's going."

"A guy named Gordon Walker, be careful around him." Adam warned.

"You all need to be careful around him." Ellen commented. "He's a smart enough guy, skilled at many things but he's best left alone. He'll drag you down."

"Alright." The three eighteen year olds said together.

"I'm excited." Jo giggled grinning.

"Me too." Adam said smiling.

"Two days, two days." Jo and he repeated together before laughing. Dean looked at them obviously annoyed.

"I know you don't want to do this Dean." Ellen said placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "But there's no other way around this."

"I'll just try to get out of it as soon as possible." Dean mumbled. "There's bound to be something I can't do."

"Dean…" Ellen said in a warning tone.

"I just want Sam and Dad to be okay, I need to look after them." He said. Ellen and Bobby shared a look before sighing. Ellen walked over to the kitchen area to talk to Bobby while Adam and Jo filled Dean in on some competition things.

"That boy…" Bobby mumbled. "Always thinking of his family, never of himself."

"With John the way he is I doubt Dean has much self-worth." Ellen sighed. "I could really call that man for treating Sam and Dean the way he did!"

"Has Sam woken up yet?" Bobby asked. Ellen shook her head and they both sighed again. "They should have come sooner…"

"John would have scolded them." Ellen pointed out. "I remember when Dean sent note of how rebellious Sam was starting to get. No doubt the boy just wanted to stay in one place. But Dean…the boy just followed John's orders without question."

"John treated him like a solider. Not his son." Bobby said distastefully. "What kind of man does that to his kids?" Ellen placed a hand on Bobby's arm with a small smile.

"At least they're here now, before anything could get worse." She said. Bobby nodded with a relieved smile. They both looked over to where Dean was sitting with Jo and Adam frowning.

"I better give this kid the run down on the competition." Ellen said gesturing to Dean with a flick of her head.

"I better go check on the drunken idiot." Bobby replied. They went their separate ways.

"What does the competition even consist of?" Dean asked frowning. Ellen stepped in to answer that question.

"It's made up of fourteen rounds." She said. "Each round is a different skill or something like that. The first round is always the introductory round. Every girl, or boy, meets Prince Castiel. Only a fair few people usually never get past that round. While you compete you live in the castle so no one cheats, you better pack your bag later Dean."

"But I don't have anything to pack…" Dean said frowning.

"Bobby and I got you a few things. Sam too." Ellen chuckled. "I didn't mention it because I forgot but they're in your room. Anyway, back to the contest. There are six rules. Each entrant has a separate room, you're allowed to talk to other entrants in their rooms but not past curfew. No violence towards other entrants, no cheating, no bribing, no external make up is to be brought in and be yourself. Those are the main rules."

"So…there are more?" Dean asked frowning.

"No, just general knowledge kind of stuff. Don't steal from the castle and things like that. If you steal something you get arrested whereas if you break the set rules you get disqualified." Ellen answered. "Being disqualified for violence can end you up in jail or even worse."

"I'll keep that in mind." Dean mumbled grimly.

"Everything's going to be fine." Ellen assured them especially Dean but the boy still looked doubtful. Ellen understood he was worried about leaving Sam so soon and she knew if something happened to him or John then Dean would blame himself entirely. Ellen gave Jo a look, Jo nodded and left the room with Adam. "Dean, Bobby and I will always be here for you. What John did…it wasn't right. You shouldn't have to deal with this pressure. Please… believe me when I promise you that everything is going to be fine."

"I…okay..." Dean mumbled.

"Good." Ellen gave him a smile which he returned albeit meekly. "You're a good kid Dean, you and your brother. Now go get some rest. It was a long journey."

"Okay." Dean said. He stood up and went to his room. After he left Ellen sighed.

_'I hope this boy finds happiness.' _She thought. _'After all the crap he went through…he deserves it.'_

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

When Dean woke up the next morning Sam was still asleep. Dean was a little worried about it but Sam looked to be having a peaceful sleep so he left him to it. He would check on him later to give him medicine.

Dean made his way into the lounge where Ash was sitting with some breakfast.

"Yo." He greeted.

"Morning Ash." Dean replied.

"Got some breakfast for ya, Jo and Adam are packing for the contest and Bobby had to go see a merchant." Ash said setting down a plate of food for the teen. "That and Bobby doesn't trust you in his kitchen."

"I cook better than Sam." Dean pointed out. Ash laughed.

"Yeah but he also wanted me to answer questions you may have about the contest." Ash answered. "I entered once."

"You did?" Dean asked now paying attention. "Did you want to?"

"I honestly couldn't give a damn either way." Ash answered as Dean sat down at the table. "When I went it was I think, Prince Gabriel. He's the second oldest, short though."

"How many are in the family?" Dean asked.

"Four, all brothers. The king and queen passed away but they also have extended family will an ass tonne of cousins and crap." Ash replied running a hand through his hair. "What do you want to know? Because I got booted by the sixth round."

"Well…why are men allowed to compete? I mean it's a bride contest and being homosexual is shunned upon." Dean asked. "I've been wondering about that since I heard about it."

"Well the glorious thing about the Angelus Kingdom is the love they have for the people. Everyone is accepted here, a lot of people are only declined if they choose to cause trouble." Ash started. "A lot of people seek to live here because of the equality it promotes. It is in many ways 'Heaven on Earth' but there will always be those people in town who don't agree with what's going on."

"But what if Prince Castiel were against homosexuality?" Dean inquired. "What happens then?"

"Well of course the applicant rules would change." Ash replied rolling his eyes. "It won't be too bad. The castle's pretty cool too. It's like entering another world."

"Oh?" Dean mumbled.

"Yeah, but there's something weird about it. Unearthly or something." Ash mused with a far off look in his eyes.

"So are the older brothers married?" Dean asked interrupting Ash's thought train.

"Well…if I remember correctly the third oldest was married but his husband betrayed him or something? And Gabriel never married, at the end of the competition he just decided not to do it anymore. I can't remember exactly." He answered.

"So…I guess that makes Prince Castiel the baby brother right?" When Ash nodded Dean went on. "If he gets married does he inherit the thrown?"

"Well not exactly." Ash hummed. "The brothers have to decide between them on fair terms. Being married doesn't give you leverage. It's just ideal just in case anything happens to the prince I suppose."

"Oh…alright, I think I understand." Dean said with a nod. "Thanks Ash."

"No problem Deano." Ash chuckled. "I'm going to check on Sam, eat your food."

"Alright." Dean replied digging into his food because damn he was hungry.

But Dean hadn't expected John to be awake and when he staggered into the room holding his head in pain Dean almost choked on his mouthful of bread trying to greet his father.

"Idiot." John mumbled as Dean coughed and spluttered.

"Morning Dad." Dean greeted when he had finished choking.

"Morning." John groaned out. Ash walked back into the room.

"So I gave Sam his medicine and his fever's still bad but he won't go back to sleep." Ash said.

"I'll take care of it." Dean volunteered quickly. He jumped up and ran to his and Sam's room. When the younger boy disappeared Ash glared at John who had grabbed a bottle of ale from Bobby's alcohol supply.

"What?" John snapped.

"It's been fourteen years man." He said. "Stop picking up the bottle, look at what's going on around you?"

"Sam's sick, Dean's taking care of him." The older man replied gruffly.

"Yeah and that's what you're supposed to do." Ash hissed.

"It's an older brother's duty to look after the younger brother." John scoffed.

"It's a father's duty to look after his sons! To provide for them! To love them!" Ash snapped. "Ever since Mary died, bless her soul, you've just been thinking about yourself. Trying to drown your sorrows, but what about your sons? You left them to fend for themselves." Ash's rant was abruptly cut off when John grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him close to growl in his face. Ash winced at the smell of alcohol invading his nostrils.

"Listen here you stupid kid." John growled. "Stay out of business that doesn't involve you."

"Sam and Dean are my friends, hell they're more like my little brothers." Ash replied. "And I used to ignore it before but I can't ignore it now." John pushed Ash back and Ash was sure the older man was going to hit him but John just picked up the bottle of ale and retreated to his room.

"Bastard." Ash seethed. He turned and went towards Sam and Dean's room. "Coming in!" He announced opening the door.

Dean was sitting on the end of the bed while Sam sat with a grin on his face.

"Hey Ash." Dean greeted smiling as well.

"Sam, buddy you were supposed to sleep off that fever." Ash scolded sitting on Dean's bed.

"Oh but Dean was telling me about the bride contest." Sam whined. "It sounds interesting."

"Yes but you need to rest." Dean said. Sam gave the two a mopey look full with a pout. "Come on, if you wake up later we can talk about it then alright?"

"Ohkay." Sam agreed grumbling slightly.

"Why are you so interested anyway?" Dean asked. "It's just a dumb marriage contest."

"Yeah but Dean castles are cool." Sam mumbled shuffling down in his bed.

"Yeah they are but you need to get better." Ash pointed out. Sam gave Dean a quick look and then Dean was shuffling into the bed beside his brother. Ash was confused until he remembered Sam's nightmares.

"I'll get that candle Missouri left." He said going off to do just that. As he left he heard Dean talking to Sam.

"It's okay Sam, everything's going to be alright. I'm here, sleep easy." The older Winchester whispered. Ash frowned.

While Sam and Dean weren't around often there was still that time where they spent two years with the Harvelles. In those two years Ash dubbed himself as their older brother. When they met up again after three years it was painful to see how much Dean had changed. One time they visited and Sam was bed ridden for a few days. Dean didn't leave his brother's side, not even when Sam said he should play with Jo and Ash. He just sat there with his brother silently.

When Ash came back with the candle he noticed Dean was taking a small nap himself. He lit the candle and ruffled their hair. They both made grumbling sounds and Ash was pretty sure Dean told him to 'Fuck off'. He left the brothers to their slumber after that.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Dean woke up again much later when the sun had gone down. He had only intended to have a short nap. Sam was still sleeping beside him, but the second little cup beside the one that had been there earlier made Dean guess that Sam had gotten up to take some of his medicine. He placed his palm on the teen's forehead, it was still hot but not as bad as the previous day. The medicine must be working. Dean might actually feel alright with leaving the next day for the contest.

"Prince Castiel…" Dean mumbled. The name was strange but hell that man in the market area, Balthazar, had a strange name too. Would it really be alright to leave Sam alone for this contest? If something happened to him it would be his fault for abandoning his brother.

Sam started to stir snapping Dean out of his worries.

"Hi Dean." He mumbled sleepily. Dean smiled and stroked his hair.

"Hey Sammy, how you feeling?" He asked. Sam shuffled to sit up beside his brother.

"I'm alright…I feel really cold." The teen replied trying to bring the blankets of the bed up to wrap himself in.

"You're feeling pretty warm already Sam." Dean said. "Hey you're…going to be okay with me leaving? Right? I mean…I don't know how long the contest is but I'll try to get back as soon as I can."

"But Dean…the competition sounds really cool." Sam said frowning.

"But you're sick, I need to take care of you." Dean urged.

"Please just try? I mean what happens if you like the Prince?" Sam asked. "Will you drop out then? Just give up at a chance of love?"

"I doubt I'll like him." Dean mumbled. Sam gave Dean a sly smile.

"I don't know, I heard from Jo he's pretty amazing." He teased.

"When did Jo come in?" Dean asked.

"While you were sleeping." Sam laughed. "You might fall in love with him."

"Shut up bitch." Dean scoffed nudging his brother gently with his elbow. "You're pretty okay with this."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"With you know…me going to a contest to try and marry a man." He answered shifting his gaze away from his little brother.

"Why wouldn't I be? You're my brother and I love you." Sam said sounding slightly offended. He smiled when Dean turned his gaze back to him. "Plus I hope you win. It'll be awesome if you marry a prince."

"I guess it kind of would be." Dean chuckled rubbing the back of his neck.

"Plus castles are cool too, if you win can I still live with you?" Sam asked.

"Of course!" Dean exclaimed. "Do you think I'll let you stay away?

"Yay!" Sam exclaimed before a coughing fit took him. Dean patted his back until he had calmed down.

"You need to rest more." Dean said and Sam just rolled his eyes with a bitch face.

"Alright fine." He said but first he pulled out something from under his pillow and held it out to Dean. It was a strange amulet one a leather cord. Dean frowned confused. "It's for you."

"When did you get this?" He asked taking the amulet.

"A few towns back but I wasn't awake long enough to give it to you." Sam replied. "Think of it as a good luck charm!"

"Thanks Sammy." Dean said smiling as he put the necklace on. He felt touched that Sam had thought to get him a present even if he didn't have anything to give back to him and spent a lot of time screwing up.

Dean decided to tell Sam a story to help him sleep and when the younger Winchester had fallen asleep Dean couldn't sleep. The worries for what the next day would bring as well as the fact he had slept the majority of the day wouldn't let him sleep. He ended up staying up practically all night.


	3. Chapter Three: Round One

**Warnings:** None

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Supernatural

**Authoress' Note:** _I'm sorry it's taking so long for me to get chapters done. I'm on holidays but I'm still busy with stuff. I just hope you guys still keep with me for this. Thank you for all your reveiws_

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

**Chapter Three: Round One – Introducing Prince Castiel**

Dean wasn't aware he had fallen asleep. The only thing he was aware of was the knocking on the door and the loud chirping of birds outside.

"What the actual hell? Let me sleep." He mumbled rolling around in his bed. He had changed beds but he just didn't know when. He buried his face in his pillow but the knocking and the chirping was getting too annoying. He sat up and growled, the knocking he could take care of. He tumbled out of bed and pushed the door open.

"What?" He snapped grumpily. Bobby raised his eyebrows before narrowing his eyes at the boy.

"You're going to be late idjit." He said.

"Late…what?" Dean asked frowning. Then it hit him and he gasped before running around to get changed. "Shit! The competition starts today!" Bobby shook his head and went back to what he was doing.

Dean came flying around the lounge a few minutes later tugging on his hooded cloak.

"You don't have to wear that." Bobby told him.

"I'd rather wear it!" Dean called back grabbing his bag and heading for the door. "Bye Bobby! Tell Sam I said bye!"

"Bye, good luck!" Bobby called as the boy took off running. "Idjit." He stood outside the door and watched Dean running through a crowd. "For someone who doesn't want to compete he sure is running fast."

Dean ran as fast as his feet would carry him. Sure, he had to stop and ask for directions a few times but he eventually made it to the castle. There were loads of girls just crowding up the front gate. They were all chattering about the competition and Prince Castiel from what Dean occasionally heard.

"So, you're competing too huh?" A sultry voice said beside him. He turned to see a girl with long dark hair and brown eyes. She looked at him from head to toe before saying "Nice." Dean started at her confused but someone knocked into him and when he regained his footing she was gone.

"It's King Michael!" A girl in the crowd called and the crowd of girls started to get giddy and swoon. Dean heard comments of 'he's so handsome' and 'what a beautiful man' from some of the girls around him.

"Prince Castiel!" Another girl called and the crowd went wild. Dean tried to see who exactly Prince Castiel was but he just saw a flash of dark hair before he fell over. Someone was standing on his cloak, he tried to pull the end of the cloak back but another girl stood on it.

_'I shouldn't have worn the damn thing.' _He thought tugging on it.

"Hello ladies and gents!" A voice boomed over the crowd instantly silencing the swooning girls. "Welcome to the Bride Competition for our youngest brother Castiel. I am King Michael and I hope you are all excited." The girls cheered and Dean heard laughter. "Good. Now there are some general rules which I must point out to you." King Michael waited a moment before going on. "No stealing anything, no ill behaviour towards any of the staff members of the castle and do not deface the castle property. If these rules are broken punishment will be issued and you will be eliminated or if there is severe damage done you will be imprisoned or banished." Dean finally managed to free the end his coat. He stood up hoping to catch a glimpse of Prince Castiel. "You may enter the castle now." Michael said and then Dean was getting pushed towards a large pair of pearly white gates which looked much more extravagant than the gates to enter the village.

"Hey quit pushing I'm moving!" Dean yelled to the impatient girls behind him who just kept pushing him.

They passed through the gates and just like Ash had said it was like stepping into a new world. However, Dean hardly had time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the front garden as he found himself in a large foyer looking around like a lost duckling. Someone, Dean guessed a staff member, grabbed Dean's arm and guided him to a room.

"This will be your room." The person said before leaving.

"Thanks…" Dean mumbled even though the person was gone. He walked into his room.

It was a small but spacious room. There was a bed, a chest of drawers, a chair and one window between where the bed and the chair were situated. Dean dumped his bag on his bed and walked over to the window which gave a magnificent view of the garden below. There were dozens of different flowers in so many different colours. Dean turned away from the window.

_'Sam would probably like that.' _He thought. There had been a time where Sam would just collect different flowers on their travels since it was the only consistent thing along their travels. Dean touched the amulet hanging off his neck and sighed. There was a knock at his door and Dean just stared at it for a minute confused.

"Uh…come in?" He called uncertainly. To his surprise it was Balthazar who walked in, he would have asked the man if he was competing had it not been for the crown atop his head and the extravagant clothes he wore. Dean went slack jawed.

"Hello Dean." Balthazar greeted with a casual smile.

"Hi Balthazar…you have a…I didn't…are you a prince as well?" Dean asked pointing to the gold crown.

"Yes." Balthazar answered with somewhat of a sigh.

"Oh…wait, then why did that guy hassle you the other day?" Dean asked.

"Because he didn't realise who I was." Balthazar laughed. "I get bothered more when people know who I am. I'd rather just go into town like a normal person and buy something like a normal person." Dean thought on his words for a moment before nodding.

"I can't argue with that." He said. "Just so you know I'm not about to grovel just because you're a prince."

"I'm glad about that." Balthazar replied with a grin. He walked into Dean's room and sat down on his bed beside his bag.

"So…Prince Castiel is your brother?" Dean asked leaning against the wall beside the window.

"Yes, he is the youngest of us." Balthazar responded. "He's very…indifferent…towards this competition."

"Is that so?" Dean asked. "Even so I could care less. I just…oh shit….oh shit I didn't check on Sam before I left. Shit!" Dean started to pace around in his room.

"Sam?" Balthazar asked.

"My little brother, the one I was getting medicine for. I was going to be late so I kind of rushed to get here and I didn't check on him. Oh fuck." Dean sat down on the chair with his head in his hands.

"How was he last night?" Balthazar asked.

"He was alright, the medicine started to work." Dean mumbled.

"Is someone at your house now?" The prince asked next.

"Yeah, Bobby is. But he can't be there all day." He answered.

"Robert Singer?" Balthazar asked. "Well I doubt he would leave Sam alone, he is a good man."

"I know-"

"Then there's nothing to worry about right? Worry about yourself for once. You're in a competition." Balthazar interrupted. "You gotta be in it to win it. But I do hope your brother gets better."

"Thanks…I guess." Dean mumbled. "Not that I mind your company but did you come here for anything specific?"

"I offered to give you a run down on the competition." Balthazar answered with a grin. "There are fourteen rounds. Today you start round one, which is meeting Castiel. You'll get a reminder for the next round 24 hours in advance."

"Can you tell me what the rounds consist of?" Dean asked. Balthazar shook his head.

"No. But you'll be staying here for the entire length of the competition. You're not allowed to leave unless you get eliminated or disqualified. But you can send letters to your family." He answered. Dean perked up at that and Balthazar smiled a little before it disappeared. "Dean…I know you don't wish to compete but just try the competition out alright?" Dean frowned and sighed.

"One of the rules is to be myself right?" When Balthazar nodded he continued. "Then that's what I'll do. I'm not going to pretend, I'm going to be the dick that I am because that's home. If I get sent home because I held my tongue on what I wanted to say or I wasn't 'proper' then well be it. That's the best you'll get from me." Dean huffed.

"And I would ask for no more than that." Balthazar laughed with a broad smile. He stood up and placed a hand on Dean's shoulder. "I will take my leave now, the best of luck to you. Also, your bell number is 126."

"Thanks, have a nice day." Dean said with a bit of a smile. "Wait…bell number?" Balthazar was gone and Dean sighed. "Great." He stood up and sat down on his bed leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes until there were twin knocks on his door. "Come in?" The door opened revealing a grinning Jo and amazed Adam.

"Hey Dean." Jo greeted. She sounded bubbly, like she was just managing to keep her excitement contained. Adam was too busy looking around the interior of the hallway to even bother with a greeting.

"This place is amazing." He breathed.

"Yeah it is pretty amazing…" Dean sighed.

"What's wrong Dean?" Jo asked with a puzzled frown.

"I just want to go home, I need to take care of Sam." Dean replied.

"There are a small handful of people who feel the same way." Adam said with a small smile. "But just try it, you never know-"

"Why?" Dean interrupted. "It's not like I'm exactly bride material!"

"Well, think of Sam." Jo said. Dean gave her his exasperated 'Oh my fucking God woman/man' face. "No I mean…what if he wants to live in a castle?" Dean bit his lip, Sam had said it would be great to live in a castle the previous day. "No response?"

"Shut up." Dean mumbled. Jo and Adam chuckled.

"Come on, let's look around the castle." Adam suggested as Dean stood up off his bed.

"Don't we have to wait for the first round to be over?" He asked but put up no fight as they led him out of his room.

"Nope. We just have to know what bell number we are." Jo answered.

"Bell number?" Dean asked still confused about that.

"Yeah, I'm number 23." Jo replied grinning. "What number are you?"

"What do you mean by bell number?" Dean asked instead.

"It's the number of bells you have to wait for. I'm number 44 so I have to wait until after the 43rd bell rings today."

"Bell?" Dean asked getting agitated at his confusion. "How are we going to hear and count a –"

**_DONG_**

"Bell…" Dean finished.

"There's someone who will come and get your when it's your bell, or so I've heard." Jo replied.

"Oh…alright then." Dean said. "Lead on." Adam and Jo laughed and took him outside to the garden he had looked down on from his room.

"Ah, so this is the other male guy competing." A voice said from beside the little entrance to the garden. Jo jumped in surprise while Adam avoided looking at who had spoken. Dean just looked straight at the other man. He was dark skinned and wore an arrogant smirk as he looked at them. Dean felt himself getting ticked off already.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" He snapped frowning. The other man moved towards him and held out a hand towards Dean for a handshake.

"Nice to see someone with balls around here." He said with a pointed look to Adam. "The name's Gordon Walker."

"Dean Winchester." Dean replied shaking Gordon's hand and grimacing the entire time. He already didn't like the other man.

"Maybe you might just be competition material." Gordon said. Dean just shrugged.

"Whatever man." He replied. Gordon looked at him from head to toe as the other girl had done earlier before walking away.

"What an ass." Jo huffed.

"I don't like him." Dean replied.

"Let's just go explore for now and forget about him." Adam suggested. Jo and Dean nodded both looking angry but soon they were laughing when Jo tripped over the edge of her dress.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

The bell chimed for the 5th time that day and the 4th girl Castiel had seen had finally left his presence. He rubbed his temples feeling a headache coming on. 4 girls out of 126 and he already had a headache. If he was honest he wanted nothing to do with this…but Michael had insisted and Gabriel and Balthazar weren't moving to marry soon. So Castiel found himself agreeing without a complaint.

"Chin up Castiel." His older brother Balthazar said patting the young princes head. "At mine there were 203 girls and at least you have 3 boys thrown into the mix."

"This should have been done when I was 18, I am 22." Castiel griped.

"Yes but no one cares~" Balthazar sang as he opened the doors to let in the next girl. It was a young petite blonde girl, the first he had interviewed today.

"Have a seat." He said politely not even bothering to crack a smile.

"Thank you." She said with a smile. She had a thick accent but Castiel didn't bother to place where it was from. "My name is Bela Talbot."

"A pleasure, I am Castiel Novak as you know." He said. She giggled and he forced himself to smile a little. "Tell me about yourself."

"I was born and raised in the Soul Plaines, close to the Demon Kingdom." She started. "My father was killed by a bandit and my mother took me here in the hopes of a better start after his death. She works as a seamstress in the market here now…"

Castiel started to tune out her words as she started to ramble on about how talented her mother was and claimed her mother made her dress. It looked more like one he had bought for his cousin Anna from an older seamstress in the Seraphian Village. Bela continued on about her mother meeting her new supposed step-father and Castiel found himself bored. So far he had counted about 3 lies in her story.

_'Just another 121 to go.' _He thought with a mental sigh. _'I only hope the others will not tell such blatant lies.' _

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Dean wandered around the castle aimlessly with Jo and Adam until they both had to leave for their introductions to Prince Castiel. So Dean had decided to go back to his room, the only problem being he was hopelessly lost. Each room had a number on it and after asking a passing maid what it meant he found that his room number would correspond with his bell number. Which would be great if the rooms were in order.

"Twenty three…twenty four…what? Fifty two?!"He exclaimed in frustration. "This castle is a freaking maze! I should have asked someone before…shit…"

"Lost handsome?" A familiar voice asked. Dean spun around and standing right next to him was the girl who had checked him out earlier.

"Um…hey." He greeted confused.

"Meg Masters." She introduced holding out her hand. Dean shook it still looking at her warily and confused.

"Dean Winchester." He told her.

"Lost?" She asked.

"Uh yeah, just trying to find my room." He said rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's your number Deanie?" She asked making Dean cringe at the nickname.

"Don't call me that." He told her frowning the way Sam did sometimes when he called him 'Sammy'. "One twenty six."

"Oh lucky me, I'm roomed next to a cutie." Meg said with a wink. "Follow me." She pulled her dress up slightly to her ankles and started to walk keeping her eyes to the ground. Dean tilted his head to the side.

"Not used to dresses?" He asked hazarding a guess.

"Not used to dresses." She repeated laughing.

"But don't all girls wear them?" Dean asked confused.

"Hey, information for information." Meg said. "Too bad we're at your room." Dean frowned and looked to see they were indeed standing in front of his door.

"Oh damn." He said.

"One twenty six huh?" She hummed. "I feel bad for you, you're the last one. I was number forty."

"So you've already met him right?" Dean asked. She nodded. "How is Prince Castiel?"

"He's…interesting." She said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "It's better just to wait to meet him."

"I guess…" Dean mumbled.

"You're not excited?" Meg asked. "Most people are over the moon about this."

"To be honest I don't really care, I don't want to be here." Dean answered with a sigh.

"You and a small handful of people share that sentiment." Meg chuckled. "Catch you later handsome." Meg gave a small wave of her hand before she walked into her room which was on the right of his. Dean looked at her door before he gave a small chuckle and entered his room.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Castiel extremely relieved when Balthazar and Gabriel came to get him for lunch. His two older brothers had saved him in the midst of listening to Lisa Braeden. While she was beautiful and probably had a decent story to listen to he was sick of listening to the same thing. Practically all the girls he had seen so far had said the same sort of things. They either came from small or wealthy families or their parents were merchants or they had royalty in their blood. He didn't doubt some of them had merchants in their family but some of them just seemed to try and impress him. They wanted to prove their worth even if it meant lying and Castiel was offended by this. Just because he was a prince didn't mean he cared about if the woman he chose came from a rich or a poor family. All he cared about was their personality.

"Earth to Cassie!" His second oldest brother exclaimed waving a hand in front of his face. Gabriel was the shortest in the family but well known for his sneaky pranks and tricks. He had blonde hair a shade or so darker than Balthazar's hair and honey coloured eyes.

"What is it Gabriel?" Castiel asked narrowing his eyes at the dreaded nickname.

"I asked if you liked your choices so far." Gabriel chuckled. Castiel shrugged in response.

"If I am honest I do not wish to do this." He replied.

"Well at least you have men in your selection." Balthazar muttered. Castiel shrugged again. "You already met Adam Milligan the first boy."

"He was sweet and sincere." Castiel commented. "A little bit shy."

"And then there's Gordon Walker-"

"I don't trust that guy." Gabriel interrupted with a hiss. "I've spoken to him before…his aura and general vibe make me suspicious."

"Do you know what number he is?" Castiel asked curious to see if his brother's words were true.

"I think he's number…62?" Balthazar said uncertainly. "I can check for you."

"No, that's quite alright." Castiel said holding up his hand. "Let's just join Michael for lunch."

The brothers walked down the hall politely waving to the many female contestants that were scattered about.

"Why do we even do this?" Castiel mumbled. Balthazar and Gabriel patted him on the back sympathetically. They knew Castiel was just get more irritated as the day went on. Their little brother much preferred the company of books than women, he had always been antisocial but they had never minded.

The trio walked into the dining room of the Northern Wing of the castle. No one was allowed in the North Wing because that was where the Novak brothers stayed. Michael was already seated at the head of the table and he smiled at his brothers upon their entry.

"Hello brothers." He greeted calmly.

"Hiyo big bro!" Gabriel chirped with a casual wave of his hand.

"Hi Michael." Balthazar greeted with a smile.

"Hello Michael." Castiel sighed but a small smile graced his features. The three sat down at the table on Michael's sides.

"Castiel you sound so pleased to see me." Michael teased. Castiel sat up straight and wide eyed.

"I did not mean to be rude." He blurted out in a panic. "It's just-"

"Brother I understand, I was only teasing you." Michael laughed. "It is quite exhausting but it shall be over soon. What number are you up to?"

"Number 61." He answered. "I have 65 contestants to speak to still."

"Well it's almost halfway, and the next round isn't until another three days. You have plenty of time to be on your own after today." Michael replied. Castiel smiled.

"I love the second round." Gabriel commented practically salivating at the thought.

"Just because you get to eat food and claim all the sweets some of the girls make." Balthazar laughed.

"Round two is a personal favourite of mine as well." Michael chuckled.

"That is….the cooking round correct?" Castiel asked. "Do I have to eat 126 meals?!" A look of pure horror crossed his features of having to eat so much food in one sitting.

"No, of course not." Michael laughed.

"Remember when we told you to cross out the names of some people you couldn't tolerate?" Gabriel provided. "Those are the people to be eliminated this round."

"How many have you crossed out so far?" Balthazar asked. Castiel thought for a few moments before he replied.

"Thirty two." He answered. Michael, Balthazar and Gabriel looked at him wide eyed. "What is it?"

"They can't all be that bad." Gabriel said. Castiel only shrugged.

"I am getting sick of hearing the same story in different words and listening to blatant liars."

"I see…" Michael breathed. "Well…just don't eliminate them all."

"Of course." Castiel answered nodding his head.

"Have you eliminated any males?" Michael asked.

"No, Adam Milligan was pleasant to talk to even if he was shy. I am meeting up with the other two later." Castiel replied and sighed. "I wonder if they will be dull or lie…"

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Dean walked out of the bathroom and almost ran straight into another girl. She still jumped in surprise and fell onto the floor after tripping over.

"Sorry Miss, are you okay?" He asked bending down to help her up.

"Yes, thank you." She replied pushing back a lock of her black hair. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"No, that's alright." Dean laughed. "I'm Dean Winchester."

"Tessa McKeon." She introduced. The bell rang and Dean looked up at the ceiling still trying to ascertain where the bell was. "Number 79 now. Have you met Prince Castiel yet?"

"No, apparently I'm the last one." Dean answered. "126."

"Oh I see, well Prince Castiel is nice just in case you were wondering. He is also a very good listener." Tessa supplied.

"That's good to hear…even if I'm not all that interested." Dean said. At Tessa's confused look he went on. "My little brother is sick, I need to take care of him."

"Oh, I hope he gets better soon." Tessa said. "Is someone taking care of him?"

"One of my Dad's friends is." Dean answered.

"Is he trust worthy?" She asked.

"Yes." Dean answered. "He's a great person."

"Then your brother is in capable hands, you shouldn't worry so much." Tessa said. "I better get going now, but it was nice meeting you Dean." She smiled and walked away. Dean sighed and started walking down another corridor.

Dean tried to find Adam or Jo's rooms but so far he had no luck. The numbers were out of order and it was so annoying. He waved to some of the girls who looked at him as he walked down the halls. He knew they were staring because he was one of the three guys that were competing and they were all curious about who those guys were even if their hearts were set on Prince Castiel.

_'What number was Jo's room again?' _He thought looking at the numbers on the doors. _'Twenty something?' _

"You cow that was an expensive dress!" He heard a voice screech.

"Oh I am _so _sorry about that." Another girl remarked sarcastically. Dean moved towards the voices curious as to what was going on. He saw two girls standing across each other in the hallway. One had blonde hair and was clutching her dress angrily as she looked at a wet spot on the side of her dress. The other was a tan brunette standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Bitch." The blonde one hissed.

"At least my mother isn't a whore." The brunette huffed.

"At least my mother has standards." The blonde snapped.

"I have more of a chance at marrying Prince Castiel since my mother isn't a whore." The brunette growled.

"But judging by your appearance I'd say you have more of a chance ending up as a jester." The blonde laughed. They glared at each other and then seemingly at the same time they sprang forward and grabbed locks of each other's hair pulling on it harshly. Dean jogged towards them and they started tumbling around on the floor. If they didn't break it up soon something would break and Dean was guessing it might be that expensive vase on that pedestal.

"Whoa, whoa ladies!" He called pulling the blonde one off the brunette. He stood between them and held a hand out to stop them. "Now there's no need for violence."

"But she-"

"This isn't about who started what." Dean interrupted. "If I didn't break you two up you would have broken some of these vases. You would have ended up hurt and you would be disqualified and punished for breaking the vase and fighting right? Now I'm sure both of you don't want that right?" The girls huffed crossing their arms over their chests and looking away. "Exactly, I'm Dean by the way."

"Lisa Braden." The brunette introduced with a small curtsy.

"Bela Talbot." The blonde introduced with a curtsy as well.

"Nice to meet you ladies." He said with a smile. They smiled back politely before they made eye contact again and glared at each other. "Ah, ah, ah." Dean tutted. "Remember? No one wants to get disqualified."

"Why are you helping us not get disqualified? Everyone's in the competition to win." Bela asked. "You're very…"

"Charming? A good sport?" Dean prompted.

"Stupid." Bela replied. Dean raised his eyebrows at her words and then rolled his eyes.

"Well I don't even care, I don't want to be here." He said.

"But it's the chance to marry a prince." Lisa said shocked.

"Yeah well, there's more to life than marriage." Dean breathed. "Anyway, nice meeting you ladies. I'm busy looking for someone but play nice while I'm gone." He gave them a small wave and a wink before continuing down the hall.

_'Some of these girls are weird.' _He thought to himself.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Time ticked onwards and Dean just started to get bored out of his mind. Why he had to be the last one he had no idea. He met up with Balthazar again and the prince explained it was a completely random order. Dean just thought it might be to make him suffer for being a little bitch about the competition. As the sun started to set the bell rang again while Dean was lying in his room. There was a short knock at his door and Dean got up to answer it. There was a servant standing there with a small smile on his face.

"Lucky last." He remarked. "It is time for you to meet Prince Castiel."

"Alright then." Dean said. The servant beckoned Dean to follow him and he did. He looked around the hallways even though he had been doing that all day. He looked as if he didn't care, but he was nervous as hell. Every girl he met during the day said Prince Castiel was a nice guy but that seemed like a biased opinion. Maybe he was a total ass.

_'If he doesn't like my attitude he might eliminate me.' _He thought. _'And if he's an ass then that won't be so bad.' _

"What's your name anyway?" Dean asked the servant.

"Inias." The servant replied.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dean." Dean offered. Inias smiled. "Have you been going around all day getting people for the round?"

"Yes, it was my task for today." Inias answered.

"Is that hard?" Dean asked. "Trying to find everyone I mean."

"No, not at all." Inias smiled. "A lot of the other entrants stay in their rooms until they get called just in case they miss the bell."

"It's a pretty loud bell, it sounds everywhere." Dean commented. Inias just kept smiling.

They came to a set of large ivory doors.

"Prince Castiel is through there." Inias said.

"Thanks." Dean replied turning to Inias who was now gone. "Weird…" He took a deep breath and opened the doors. He walked into the practically empty room. Prince Castiel sat at a table with his back facing Dean. From what he could see Prince Castiel had short messy dark brown hair and a silver crown sitting on his head. He was rubbing the side of his head as if he was irritated or had an oncoming headache. He walked around to the other side of the table where there was a seat most likely for him. Prince Castiel had his eyes closed and he looked quite tired but he was handsome. The girls had been right when they swooned over him.

"Um…hi." Dean said lamely. The young prince opened his eyes and Dean felt his breath catch in his throat. Prince Castiel had the most captivating blue eyes, they were beautiful. They just silently stared at each other, their eyes moving in little crosses as they took in the sight of the male before them.

"Hello." Prince Castiel greeted. Dean suppressed a shiver that threatened to spill down his spine at the sound of his deep gravelly voice.

"Hi." Dean repeated. "My name is Dean…Dean Winchester."

"Pleasure to meet you, my name is Castiel." He introduced. "Have a seat." Dean offered him a smile and sat down resting his arms on the table between them.

"So…um…how has your day been?" Dean asked and almost cringed at how lame he sounded.

"It has been alright…I suppose." Castiel replied. "I have been speaking to people all day, aside from when I had lunch with my brothers."

"Your brothers-Oh! One of your brothers is Balthazar right?" Dean asked. "Pretty cool guy, I had no idea he was a prince."

"Oh? Are you new to the village?" Castiel asked. "Where did you meet him?"

"Yeah, I'm new. Arrived just before the competition started." Dean answered. "And I met him at the market, I went to get some medicine for my brother. He was being thrown out of a stall."

"Balthazar enjoys the market but not the attention he gains from being a prince." Castiel commented. "But surely you would have heard his name being called by merchants? The lies they tell about us liking their products."

"I only heard a merchant call about Prince Gabriel." Dean replied. "And at the time I didn't know any other princes name aside from yours." He felt his cheeks heat up after saying that and dropped his gaze to the table embarrassed.

"Oh I see." Castiel replied. "Are you enjoying it here so far?"

"Yeah, the village is pretty cool." Dean said. "Except for this damn contest." He slapped a hand over his mouth quickly. "Sorry I uh…"

"No it's quite alright." Castiel laughed. "It is a bit of a bore."

"You're not all that interested?" Dean asked.

"Yes, that's one way to put it." Castiel replied.

"Then let's not talk about it." Dean suggested with a grin. "What do you usually do?"

"I mainly frequent the library in the castle." Castiel answered with a small smile. "We have a large collection of books."

"Man that sounds like the perfect place for my little brother, he loves reading." Dean commented. Remembering Sam was sick at home his smile was wiped clean off his face and guilt churned in his gut.

"What's the matter?" Castiel asked. "You seem troubled."

"Ah…well…I'm just worried about my brother." Dean answered. "He's sick."

"Oh, how old is your brother?" Castiel asked as he set his arms down on the table in a similar manner to Dean's.

"He's fourteen, pretty lanky kid but smart as hell." He answered.

"Do you have any other siblings?" Castiel asked next. Dean shook his head.

"Just me and Sammy." He said. "What's your family like? I hear royals are usually snobbish. No offense."

"Not my family." Castiel laughed. "We are very close and sure, there are a few traits of my brothers that irritate me to no end. But I would not trade them for the world." He smiled. "Don't tell them I said that." Dean laughed and nodded.

"Your secret's safe with me." He said with a wink. "So your brothers are Balthazar, Gabriel and Michael right?" Castiel nodded. "What about your parents?" Dean wished he never asked the question when Castiel's smile turned to a sad one.

"My mother passed away when I was six, my father passed away a few years ago." He replied.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to bring it up." Dean blabbered. "My…my mom died when I was young as well."

"My condolences." Castiel said placing a hand on Dean's forearm.

"T-thanks." Dean stammered and cleared his throat. "So…I guess this is a pretty crap interview…" He chuckled and moved the arm not under Castiel's hand to rub the back of his neck. Castiel smiled once again.

"Not at all." Castiel replied. "The others, no offence to anyone who might be your friend, spoke of the same things. It was dull and repetitive speaking to them."

"What usually happens?" Dean asked.

"Well, each entrant tells me of their family and often they make up lies to make themselves seem high class…but what does that matter? They don't have to prove their worth to me. Possessions do not say who you are, worth does not say who you are." Castiel mumbled

"True." Dean agreed. "I have to ask…what are you looking for out of this? Do you have a preference or anything?"

"Honestly…I have no idea." Castiel breathed. "I have no preference, I have never even thought to seek relationships with people."

"I see…" Dean replied. "So…what's your take on the competition then?"

"I suppose it's a good idea…but honestly I don't really care." Castiel answered with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He smiled at Dean then and the teen's heart thumped a little harder in his chest. "But I do get to meet some interesting people." He didn't avert eye contact with Dean and Dean felt the need to with a creeping shyness but he enjoyed Castiel's attention. "I would not protest to getting to know some of them better."

"Well…" Dean croaked and cleared his throat. "You seem like an interesting guy. People ought to be interested to get to know you as well."

"Really? Is that so?" Castiel asked tipping his head to the side slightly with a smile.

"Mmhmm." Dean hummed and licked his lips. "So what else do you like to do Cas?"

"Cas?" Castiel asked sounding both baffled and amused.

"Do you mind the nickname?" Dean said quickly. "Is it bothersome? I can call you Castiel if you prefer."

"No, no. It's perfectly fine." Castiel replied. "My brother's usually call me Cassie, it's a better nickname than that." He chuckled and Dean grinned. "Please be aware that you may get told off for informality, but I do like that nickname."

"Alright then, Cas it is." Dean said. Castiel smiled. "So what else do you do for fun Cas?"

Conversation flowed easily after that. Castiel and Dean talked about family, friends, travelling, animals and just anything that seemed to come up. The pair hadn't even been aware how long they had been talking until one of Castiel's brothers came into the room. But even then they didn't stop talking.

"Cassie!" He had greeted upon entry only to be ignored. Castiel and Dean laughed at something said previously and the sight made Gabriel stop and stare surprised. Dean noticed him after his laughing fit.

"Oh, hello." He greeted cheerfully. Castiel turned and he was grinning as well.

"Hello Gabriel, Dean this is my older brother Gabriel." Castiel introduced.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dean Winchester." Dean greeted. Gabriel walked over with a grin and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Dean." He said. "You two have been in here for quite some time."

"What? No. Impossible." Castiel said disbelievingly.

"How much time has passed?" Dean asked.

"You've been in here for give or take an hour and fifteen minutes." Gabriel answered.

"Oh…" The pair blinked and snorted before another giggle fit took over them. Gabriel chuckled.

"Dean, dinner is being served if you're hungry. Castiel we have to go to dinner as well." He said. "Sorry to break up your meeting."

"Oh man…now that you mention it I'm hungry." Dean said placing a hand on his stomach. "Is it alright if I leave?"

"That is perfectly fine Dean, I cannot believe we lost track of time like that." He said. They both laughed again. "I will…see you around?"

"Yup." Dean replied grinning. "It was nice meeting you Cas. Nice to meet you too Gabriel."

"Call me Gabe." Gabriel said cheerfully as he gave his brother a sidelong glance smirking slightly. "Inias will show you where the dining room is."

"Thank you, goodbye." Dean said waving as he exited the room. Gabriel instantly turned to Castiel with a shit-eating grin.

"What?" Castiel asked innocently.

"You like him." He stated smiling. Castiel smiled a little and bit his lip from it spreading wider.

"Perhaps." He said standing up. Gabriel laughed. "It is dinner time is it not? Let's go." Castiel said to prevent his brother from further probing but he knew he hadn't escaped his brother yet.

Dean would have skipped off to the dining room if he knew where it was. Instead he just walked patiently beside Inias.

"So…how was it?" He asked.

"It was…better than expected." Dean said nonchalantly. He couldn't hide his grin though.

"Better than expected huh?" Inias replied with a smirk. Dean just kept smiling.

"Well you're in a good mood." A familiar voice commented. Dean looked behind him to see Meg walking with them.

"Hey Meg." He greeted.

"What's up handsome?" She asked. "You're grinning like you just won all the gold in the world."

"What, no I'm not." He tried to deny.

"That was a pretty spot on description." Inias commented.

"You met up with Prince Castiel didn't you? How was he?" Meg asked.

"He's…he's alright." Dean said trying for casual but he couldn't stop smiling. Talking to Castiel had been amazing and while they didn't agree on some things there were other things they could talk about and it was really easy to talk to Castiel. He was surprised to hear the young prince was antisocial, he didn't seem like it with the way they spoke.

"You know for someone who didn't want to be here you look really happy." Meg commented.

"Shut up." Dean laughed a slight blush tinting his cheeks. Inias and Meg laughed.


	4. Chapter Four: The Free Day

**Warnings:** None

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Supernatural

**Authoress' Note: **_So far so good, writing the last bit of what I wrote before and then let's see how well I go after that. Thank you all for your reviews! _

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

**Chapter Four: The Free Day**

The day after the first round was a free day apparently, so Jo, Dean and Adam were sitting in the garden eating some sweets the maids had offered them.

"These are delicious!" Jo exclaimed smiling.

"Yeah. What are they called again?" Dean asked.

"I think it's called marzipan? I'm not sure. I heard it was brought over during Prince Gabriel's travels." Adam replied. Dean laughed.

"Makes sense, Gabriel really likes sweets." He said.

"And how do you know that?" Jo asked.

"Huh? Oh…Cas and I talked about it." Dean said. "I-I mean Prince Castiel." Dean quickly stammered, there were a few servants around who might just tell him off for the informality.

"Cas huh?" Jo asked smirking. "I thought you were looking like your head was in the clouds."

"Yeah, it seems you're hung up over Prince Castiel." Adam teased smirking as well.

"W-what? No." Dean lied but a smile spread across his lips.

"You like him!" Jo exclaimed with a large grin on her face.

"H-he's okay." Dean mumbled blushing.

"Is that so?" A gravelly voice said behind him. Dean almost jumped seven feet in the air. He whipped around to see Castiel standing behind him with a small smile gracing his features.

"Prince Castiel!" Jo and Adam exclaimed surprised.

"C-Cas…uh…hi." Dean greeted rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed.

"Hello Dean, Jo, Adam." Castiel said. "So did I exceed your expectations Dean?"

"I-I…um…" Dean mumbled his face feeling as if it were on fire. "Yeah…yeah you did. You're more interesting than I would have guessed."

"I see." Castiel said with a slightly wider smile.

"You…uh, do you wanna join us? We got some…" He looked to Adam forgetting the name of the sweets they were eating.

"Marzipan." Adam provided.

"From the maids." Dean finished.

"No thank you, but I will hold you to another meet up if you wouldn't mind?" Castiel asked.

"Yes that's fine." Dean replied with a grin.

"Fantastic." Castiel said. "I will see you around." He gave them a polite wave before he walked off. Dean's eyes trailed after him and Jo smacked his arm.

"This is war!" She proclaimed grinning.

"I think Prince Castiel really likes you." Adam commented. "He lets you call him informally."

"It's just…he hates his other nickname… it's nothing shush." Dean mumbled. He went to grab another sweet from the little basket they had to hold them but Meg appeared from seemingly nowhere and plucked the one he was going to grab.

"Hey there handsome." She greeted with a wink. Adam and Jo looked at her suspiciously.

"Hi Meg." Dean replied. "This is Adam and Jo, guys this is Meg."

"Nice to meet you." Jo said. Meg shrugged and sat down beside Dean.

"So I saw you and Clarence flirting." She commented with a chuckle. "You must really want to be here now."

"There's still Sam to worry about." Dean pointed out.

"Missouri can take care of him and I doubt Ellen or Bobby will leave him alone." Adam replied.

"Ash too, he loves you guys like little brothers." Jo supplied.

"But it's my job to look after him." Dean hissed. "Maybe I should just get disqualified…what's the easiest way?"

"You can't be serious Dean!" Jo hissed.

"The quickest way would be to start a fight with someone." Meg suggested.

"Hey don't tell him that!" Jo exclaimed.

"It's a competition, the more people disqualified the better." Meg replied with a laugh.

"See, she's on board." Dean said with a grin. "Now I just need to-"

"Need to what?" A voice behind him hummed. Gabriel looked up to see Prince Gabriel towering over him. Even though he was shorter than Dean with Dean sitting down the older man towered over him.

"Oh…uh nothing." Dean replied.

"Liar." Gabriel said pointing at him. "Come with me." Dean got to his feet and followed the shorter man with his head down.

Gabriel led him through the castle towards the Northern Wing. When Dean realised he stopped following the prince.

"I'm not allowed to go in here." He said. "I'd rather be accused of fighting not stealing."

"You have my, oh so gracious, invite. Now get moving." Gabriel replied dragging Dean up the stairs leading to the Northern Wing. Dean stumbled but soon fell into place behind Gabriel once again.

"He's with me." Gabriel would say to everyone that passed. Dean noticed Michael had passed once but since he had other things to do he didn't linger. They walked for a while until Gabriel found the room he was looking for. The room was bare but there was one chair in the middle of the room.

"Um…" Dean said confused.

"Sit there." Gabriel said firmly. Dean licked his lips nervously and sat down on the chair. Gabriel shut the door behind him before going to stand in front of Dean.

"Now Dean, why are you thinking of getting disqualified?" Gabriel asked. "Is it because you don't like my little bro?"

"No it's not that-"

"Then why?" Gabriel snapped interrupting him. "My brother is fond of you and I know you don't feel he's the worst person in the world either. He tolerates you, it's one of the reasons he rethought about eliminating people. Something you must have said to him. He wants to talk to you more and with you agreeing…why would you get his hopes up if you just want to get out of here?"

"It's…my little brother." Dean admitted feeling ashamed. "He's sick…It's my job to take care of him. I travelled for days…just to get here. My dad's too drunk, Ellen, Bobby and Missouri have to work…I don't want to bother them…" He mumbled. "I won't be able to see him for a while and I don't even know if he'll be conscious long enough to write back or anything…" Gabriel sighed and a look of understanding crossed his features.

"You're a sweet kid." He said. "Stay in the competition, I'll sort out a way for you to see your brother."

"You'd do that?" Dean asked. "Why?"

"Because I'm an older brother myself. An amazing one at that." Gabriel boasted. "I know how it feels, but I also know Cassie would be sad if you got eliminated."

"Oh…thank you." Dean said. "I'm sor-"

"Say no more, it's alright. Just stay in the competition." Gabriel said holding up a hand.

"Alright." Dean said nodding.

"Good, now I'll go and get Balthy to lead you back outside, I have to talk to Michael." Gabriel said walking towards the door. "Wait here a minute." Dean nodded and Gabriel left the room.

One minute turned to five, five turned to ten and then when it hit the fifteen minute mark Dean got fed up and walked over to the door. He opened it up and bumped into someone. His face went pink when he realised it was Castiel.

"Dean!" Castiel said surprised. "Hello." He said with a smile.

"H-hi Castiel." He stammered still feeling ashamed. Castiel was quite sweet, how could he think of blowing him off like that?

"What are you doing here?" Castiel asked tilting his head to the side.

"I er…Gabriel took me up here for a little talk. I'm supposed to be waiting for Balthazar to take me back…well supposedly…" He trailed off.

"Oh I see, come with me then." Castiel offered holding out his hand.

"What are you? My mother?" Dean scoffed looking at Castiel's hand. He did feel invited to hold the other man's hand.

"Come now Dean, it would be dreadful if you got lost." Castiel teased. "If you got lost because of me how shameful would it be? I made my future bride get lost." Dean blushed bright red and Castiel started laughing.

"Shut up." He mumbled going to take Castiel's hand. A maid cleared her throat near them and they let their hands return to their sides.

"Shall we?" Castiel asked. Dean nodded and Castiel started leading the way. After a few minutes of silence Dean decided to strike conversation.

"So…you mentioned you liked the library?" He started.

"Yes, books are wonderful. We have quite a collection in the castle and it's nice and quiet there." Castiel replied. "There are tall bookcases filled with books on animals, plants, insects, stories, myths, legends. There is also I haven't touched yet. I believe it's on demonology."

"I'd love to take a look…I mean books aren't really my idea of fun, but you make it sound interesting." Dean mused. "But are they in Latin?"

"Most of them yes." Castiel replied.

"Damn, I'm not too good at reading Latin…uh…would you mind reading…you know…uh some books to me?" Dean asked embarrassed. Half of that was true, he did have trouble reading Latin. But he also quite liked the sound of Castiel's voice, he wondered what it would be like if he read aloud to him.

"Of course, I would love to." Castiel said smiling. "If you like I can help you get better at Latin as well."

"That would be great, oh…only if you're not busy or if you don't mind." He added.

"I wouldn't have offered if I would be irritated by it." Castiel said smoothly. The continued to talk until they got to Dean's room.

"See you hopefully before the next round?" Castiel said trying not to look too hopeful. Dean smiled and nodded causing the youngest prince to smile dazzlingly at him.

"See you later Cas." Dean said. But they didn't bother to move. Meg popped her head out from her room and whistled loudly which startled Dean. Dean jumped forward and knocked into Castiel sending them both tumbling to the floor. Castiel's silver crown fell off his head and rolled around beside him. They both lay on the floor chest to chest, legs tangled and Dean had his nose pressed to Castiel's shoulder.

"Wow." Meg whistled.

"S-sorry." Dean stammered getting to his feet and helping Castiel up. He picked up Castiel's crown slightly startled at the electric feeling he got from it. He blinked and looked down at it, it seemed like the jewels in the middle were gleaming especially bright. He tilted his head to the side. One of the gems was a lovely shade of blue, almost as beautiful as Castiel's eyes. Castiel snatched the crown out of his hands earning some shocked gasps at those who were looking on. Dean was going to apologise but Castiel looked extremely angry. His words caught in his throat.

"Excuse me." Castiel said stiffly before leaving.

"Oo…I think you made Clarence mad Deanie." Meg commented.

"Shut up…" Dean grumbled. "It was an accident…I didn't mean to…"

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Dean spent the next few hours feeling guilty. He stayed in his room trying to think of what he did wrong and how to apologise. Had Castiel really been angry because he accidentally fell on him? He didn't seem the type to care about personal space. Either way Dean still needed to apologise. He swung off his bed and left his room. Jo and Adam were standing outside.

"Oh thank God, we thought you might have gotten disqualified or something." Jo said relieved.

"What happened?" Adam asked.

"I'll explain later, I gotta find Cas and apologise." Dean said and gave them a quick wave before jogging down the hall.

_'Cas likes spending time in the library so maybe he's in the library.' _Dean thought. He saw Inias turn a corner and called out to the other male.

"Inias! Hey!" He yelled. Inias stopped and turned with a frown until he saw it was Dean who called out to him.

"Oh, hello Dean. What can I do for you?" He asked.

"Can you take me to a library?" Dean asked. "Please?"

"Sure." Inias said with a kind smile. Dean raised an eyebrow, Inias looked like he knew more than he let on but that was impossible. They silently walked to the library with Dean trying to memorise how he would get back to his room. Much like the interview they came to a set of ivory coloured doors.

"Here you are, the library." Inias said.

"Thank you very much." Dean said with a smile. Inias walked off and Dean opened the double doors.

He walked in and gasped. He had only ever seen a bookshop before with lots of books stacked on shelves. But this was…ridiculous. There were shelves taller than him with small foot stools to reach for them as well as small ladders. The room was huge and there was shelves all around, filled with books on what he guessed was everything. He walked further in. Sam would love this place. He stopped walking when he got to the middle of the room.

"Wow…" he breathed. He looked around and thanked the heavens when he saw Prince Castiel was lounging on a chair reading a book. His crown rest on a small table beside the long chair he sat sideways on. His feet were propped up on the second arm of the chair and he looked to be intensely reading.

Dean stood near him but the young prince didn't raise his eyes from the book he was reading. He had such an intense look of concentration on his face. Dean just kept staring at him. He crouched down and put his hands on his knees tilting his head to look at the prince from a different angle. God he was beautiful. Castiel flipped a page and Dean watched his eyes leave the book and look at him.

"Dean?" He said. Dean felt glued to the spot under his gaze. He swallowed nervously his throat suddenly dry.

"H-hey Cas." He croaked out then cleared his throat.

"Hello." Castiel greeted. "Is there a particular reason you're staring at me?"

_'Because you're so freaking beautiful it was hard not to stare.' _Dean thought. Castiel laughed and Dean knew he must have said that aloud.

"Why thank you." He said. Dean's face and ears burned red.

"Wow I'm so stupid." He mumbled hiding his face.

"No you're not." Castiel chuckled pushing his head gently so Dean would look up at him again. "Is there something you need?"

"Oh…I uh…I wanted to apologise for before." Dean started. "I was startled…I didn't mean to knock you over or make it seem like I was going to steal your crown or something…I'm sorry." Castiel regarded him silently for a while before he sat facing Dean and placed his book down beside him. He put his hands over Dean's and smiled softly.

"Dean you have nothing to apologise for, I should apologise for my outburst." He said. "The crowns of the Angel Kingdom are enchanted to avoid them being stolen. It mesmerises you and while you're standing there staring at it the guards can catch you."

"Oh I see, that's really cool." Dean said. "But wait, does that mean if you marry then the other person won't be able to hold your crown for you or something?"

"If the marriage lasts more than five years the other should be slightly immune to it." Castiel explained.

"Oh." Dean said nodding. Castiel smiled. Dean shifted to sit on his knees and rest his and Castiel's hands on Castiel's knees.

"Prince Castiel, Prince Gabriel is-oh…" Inias had walked in and taken one look at them before giving a sly smile to Castiel. "I see you're busy. My apologies." Dean was confused until he remembered he was on his knees in front of Castiel.

"Inias!" Castiel yelled embarrassed as the other man left. Dean could see a slight pink blush to the prince's cheeks. "Sit up beside me Dean." Dean nodded and sat beside Castiel holding his book. They sat in silence.

"So…" Dean said to break the silence. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"I'm not quite sure." Castiel replied.

"Should I leave?" Dean asked. Castiel shook his head.

"I like your company…I just have no idea what to talk about." He admitted somewhat shyly.

"Then maybe we just…take a walk? Sit in silence? I don't know." Dean said. "We could read books."

"I could read to you." Castiel suggested. "What would you like to hear about?"

"What's your favourite book?" Dean asked.

"My favourite book? Oh no, you probably wouldn't like it." Castiel said. "Plus…I mean you must have better things to do on your free day other than speak to me. I know it's a competition to wed me but you don't have to spend time with me if you don't want to." Dean snorted and Castiel looked down at his knees.

"Prince or not you don't get a say in how I spend my day." He huffed. "And at the moment I'd like very much if you read to me." Castiel cracked a smile.

"Alright then." He said. "I'll read you my favourite book."

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Michael walked around the castle looking for Castiel. The young prince was not in the Northern Wing like he had been earlier. He had asked passing contestants if they had seen him but so far no one had. He frowned stopping in the hallway.

"King Michael? You look troubled." Inias commented walking towards his king.

"Ah Inias, you often know where Castiel tends to be." Michael started.

"We are good friends your majesty." Inias replied. Michael smacked the back of his head.

"Which is why you should not be so formal to me." He said.

"It is only to keep up the act your majesty." Inias laughed. "As for Castiel's location, he's in the library."

"I checked the one in the Northern Wing already, he was not there." Michael huffed.

"Ah yes, well would you like to see something interesting?" Inias asked. "It has to do with Castiel's location."

"Alright, what do you wish to show me?" Michael asked. Inias started walking and Michael followed after the younger man.

"I've been keeping a close eye on contestants since what happened with…you know…" Inias mumbled.

"Yes, that was quite unfortunate. I still wish the cretin had been hanged." Michael muttered mainly to himself. "But go on."

"There are a few contestants that I do not trust and there is one who is…interesting." Inias trailed off. "He does not want to be here."

"So do many others." Michael pointed out. "Your point is?"

"He quite likes Prince Castiel and Prince Castiel quite likes him as well." Inias finished. Michael frowned.

"I won't believe it until I see it." He huffed. "The East Wing library?" They had stopped in front of the two large ivory doors.

"Shh." Inias said before slowly opening the door silently. Michael looked inside when he saw Inias smile.

Castiel was sitting on one of the two seater chairs next to a younger man. He had a book in his hand and was smiling as he read from it.

"What?!" The other man exclaimed with wide green eyes. "No way!"

"Yes." Castiel replied with a chuckle.

"But but!" The other man spluttered gesturing wildly with his arms. "The dragon isn't even in that cave! Why would Dan tell Sean it was that cave?"

"You'll just have to find out." Castiel chuckled. "But maybe we should just stop there, it's best to leave things at a cliff hanger sometimes."

"No!" He exclaimed. "You freaking tease Cas!" Castiel laughed moving the book out of the man's reach as he tried to grab it. He pushed the other male back and jumped off the chair running away with the book. "Come back here!" He called chasing Castiel. The two ran around like a pair of children both laughing.

"Who is that?" Michael asked intrigued.

"Dean Winchester, he moved into the kingdom a few days ago with his brother and father." Inias answered.

"He is something else…" Michael breathed with a small smile. "I haven't seen Castiel laugh or play around in a while. Why does Dean not want to be here?"

"You would have to ask Prince Gabriel, I hear he gave Dean a stern talking to over it." Inias supplied closing the door silently.

"Good idea, do you know where he is?" Michael asked. Inias looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I think he went out sire." He replied.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Gabriel hummed as he rocked back and forth on his feet waiting at the front step of Robert Singer's house. He had knocked on the door quite a few times but no one seemed to be home.

"Helloooo?" He called knocking on the door again. "Anyone home?" He heard a stumble and then some coughing.

"Coming!" A small voice called. The door opened wide then the boy who answered it closed it slightly seeing Gabriel's hooded coat. "Who are you?" He asked. He was a thin teenage boy with a head of messy brown hair, hazel eyes and wearing some loose fitting clothes.

"Hi there kiddo, you wouldn't be Sam Winchester by any chance?" Gabriel asked removing his hood as to not intimidate the kid.

"Who's asking?" He asked.

"I don't mean any harm." Gabriel said. "My name is Gabriel Novak, I'm here on behalf of your brother. May I come in?"

"Oh, alright…" He said opening the door but still looking warily at Gabriel. "I'm Sam Winchester." Gabriel closed the door and took a sigh of relief.

"Nice to meet you kiddo." He breathed. At Sam's questioning stare he added. "A prince roaming around in public attracts unwanted attention." Sam's eyes bugged out of his head.

"A prince?!" He exclaimed and started coughing madly. Gabriel quickly went over and patted the boys back.

"Easy now." He cooed. "Should you even be out of bed? I heard you were sick." Sam shook his head.

"Come on, show me where your room is." Gabriel said gently. Sam lead the prince upstairs to a small room with two beds. Sam started coughing again and Gabriel rubbed his back. "Lie down, let me get you some water." He instructed. Sam nodded tiredly and Gabriel went downstairs. It took him a bit but he found where Singer kept his cups and got the youngest Winchester a glass of water.

"Who the hell are you?" A voice behind him slurred. Gabriel turned around to see a man standing-no, swaying in the lounge area.

"Prince Gabriel Novak. And you?" He asked.

"John Winchester." The man replied. "I didn't know princes made house calls." He slurred. He moved around looking for something as he ignored Gabriel. Gabriel studied the man. His aura swirled with grief, anger and defeat. Gabriel continued to watch him until he went back to whichever room was his.

Gabriel went back upstairs and gave Sam the glass of water which he drank greedily from.

"Slow down there kiddo." He chuckled. "There was a man downstairs who I assume was your father?"

"Yes sir." Sam croaked.

"Just call me Gabe." Gabriel said with a smile. "He was drunk…is he often drunk?"

"Yeah…" Sam mumbled.

"Does he take care of you? I mean does he have a job or..?" Gabriel asked trailing off. Sam shook his head looking a little ashamed. "Who takes care of you?"

"Dean does usually, he's been doing it for a while." The teen answered. "We used to travel around a lot, but then I got sick…so Dean took us here."

"I see…your father seemed sad…" Gabriel lied, the splotches of bad emotions in his aura said enough but Sam didn't need to know about the princes powers. "What happened?"

"Oh…um…fourteen years ago…someone burned down our house…mum didn't make it out." Sam mumbled.

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that…" Gabriel said.

"It's okay…I don't remember her that much, but Dean did." Sam said.

"I see…" Gabriel trailed off. "Dean seems like a great guy, can you tell me about him?" Sam nodded enthusiastically.

"Dean's the greatest brother even if he is an ass at times." Sam started.

**|…|**

Gabriel sat stroking Sam's hair as the teen slept. Sam had started having fitful dreams but Gabriel had used a spell to soothe his sleep. It was a secret that the Novaks possessed magical powers. They weren't evil like the leaders of the Demon Kingdom but they were pure and practically angelic. Everyone had their suspicions with the castle seeming enchanted and all but no one questioned it.

Their powers ran through the family, they had to be careful with them though. It was possible to go dark side and become evil. Some of those in the demon kingdom had previously been members of the Novak family. Their powers, or gifts as they liked to call them, were to be used responsibly. But give some people power and they go mad with it.

"Sam?" A gruff voice announced knocking on the door. It opened to reveal Robert Singer who stared at the prince with wide eyes upon seeing him. "Prince Gabriel."

"Hello." Gabriel greeted with a grin. "Sorry to pop in unannounced." He stood from the chair he was seated on walked over to the older man. "Best to let him sleep, can I speak to you elsewhere?" Robert nodded and lead him downstairs to the lounge.

"I have to say, I didn't think princes did house visits." He started. Gabriel laughed.

"The other man, John Winchester, said that before." He said. Robert groaned.

"I'm sorry you had to meet that idjit…" He apologised.

"It's fine Robert. He's the father of Dean and Sam Winchester right?" Gabriel asked. Robert nodded.

"Call me Bobby and yes, he is." He answered.

"Right…I spoke to Sam earlier about it." Gabriel commented.

"Not to be rude or nothing but why are you here?" Bobby asked. "Shouldn't you be at the competition or something?"

"I came because of that yes." Gabriel answered. "You see, Dean was suggesting getting himself disqualified even though he smashed the interview with my bro."

"Oh God…" Bobby groaned. "The idjit."

"No no, I mean I get where he's coming from now that I've spoken to Sam." Gabriel said with a fond smile. "I hope and pray that Dean goes through and marries Castiel, those two…they just clicked. I can't explain it, but I know they're right for each other. I'm going to assure him that Sam's doing alright, does he have someone to take care of him during the day?"

"Yes, Missouri will be coming around later. I had to deal with a few pushy clients, I thought Ash was around…sorry for making you tend to Sam." Bobby apologised.

"He's a sweet kid, I didn't mind." Gabriel said. They sat down and Gabriel sighed. "My brother really likes Dean. I'm not blind…Dean likes him back…I just wish he'd stop trying to get eliminated."

"Give that boy a smack upside the head for me." Bobby said. "If you can assure him that Sam's doing okay then he might get his act together. That boy treasures Sam."

"I don't blame him." Gabriel mumbled. "But for now I guess there's nothing I can do other than tell him and hope that God knocks some sense into that idiot." Bobby nodded in agreement.


	5. Chapter Five: Round Two

**Warnings:** None

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Supernatural

**Authoress' Note:** _Thank you all for such positive feedback, I apologise for taking a while for this update. I've been trying to find food that might be eaten in the time zone I've chosen. Like. To me it's a point in time that doesn't exist and has extra things added in. That seemed like it made no sense argh. I'm really glad I decided to re-write this because before Inias wasn't in it and well I find him amusing in this chapter. _

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

**Chapter Five: Round Two – Cook For Your Prince**

Dean went to bed the previous night worried for the next round. Since Gabriel's reassurance that Sam was in fact okay he had started to worry less. But when it was revealed the next round was going to be a cooking one, well Dean was worried. He had only ever cooked for Sam and his dad before. What would he cook for Castiel? When he woke up Inias was knocking at his door.

"Mr Winchester?" He called. "Are you awake?"

"Mm?" He hummed loudly before rolling over onto his side.

"Regarding today's round, you are part of the breakfast group. You have five seconds before I open the door." The other man said. "Five." Dean rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the door and swung it open. "Good morning Mr Winchester."

"Call me Dean." He replied. "Morning Inias."

"You are in the breakfast division today." Inias repeated.

"What time is it?" Dean asked rubbing his eyes.

"Five in the morning, now get dressed and come with me." Inias instructed. Dean nodded and closed the door to change clothes. He was almost tempted to jump back into bed and go to sleep but he thought better of it. He changed his clothes and met Inias outside his door. He followed the other man with a yawn when he started to walk off.

"There are ingredients provided for breakfast, you have to make something before seven." Inias explained.

"Then why are we up so early?" Dean asked with another yawn.

"Because we suspect some of you are heavy sleepers." Inias chuckled.

"Quick question, how many people are left?" Dean mumbled.

"About sixty." Inias answered.

"So…what? That's about twenty dishes for breakfast, twenty for lunch and twenty for dinner? I don't think Cas…tiel could eat that much." Dean commented catching himself on the nickname.

"Ah, no. You're catering for Prince Balthazar, Prince Gabriel and King Michael as well as some other guests. Aside from breakfast, breakfast is just the princes and king." Inias chuckled. "And there's also desert so it's about fifteen people per group. Each food will get a sample at the very least."

"Will they know who cooked what?" Dean asked. Inias shook his head.

"Your name will be on the bottom of the plate but they don't know that. The plates get stacked up in two piles. People who pass and people who don't." He explained. Dean hummed in understanding. They walked the rest of the way there in silence.

The kitchen was bigger than Dean thought it would be. There were multiple stoves and plenty of work space areas. In the middle there were ingredients piled up for the picking. Dean spied oatmeal, honey, bread and cheese among these things.

_'Sammy always loved cheesy bread and oatmeal for breakfast.' _He thought. _'I'll just make that.' _

"When all the contestants are here you can start cooking, at the moment the princes and king won't be awoken until six." Inias told him.

"Lovely." Dean bit out sarcastically. Inias chuckled. Dean leaned on a side wall and waited. He didn't recognise some of the girls who walked in but he did see Tessa and Bela. Soon girls were chattering to each other about what to cook. Dean just watched thinking about what else he could add seeing as there was quite a variety of food.

"Ladies and Dean." Inias said from the front of the kitchen. Some of the girls giggled while Dean rolled his eyes. "It is now nearing six in the morning."

"Why are we awake?" One girl moaned in irritation. Dean snickered.

"You are all to prepare a breakfast meal to be fed to our breakfast crowd. The Princes and King usually eat at seven giving you plenty of time to prepare something." Inias went on. "Now there is a limit to the amount of people who can use the stove, so if the stoves are full then you must wait. Other than that you can start." The girls all crowded around the ingredients table in a rush. Dean blinked and quickly scurried over while Inias chuckled to himself.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Inias left the contestants once there were another few servants to watch them. He went over to the Northern Wing to wake up Castiel. He hoped the young prince might already be awake or at least half awake, it was really hard to wake him up sometimes. He passed Gabriel's room and watched briefly as he stumbled out of his bed oh so gracefully. He snickered and Gabriel lifted his middle finger.

"Go wake up Cassie Inias." He grumbled. Inias waved to him before he walked off giggling.

It was often hilarious to see Gabriel and Balthazar wake up. More than once he had seen Balthazar get tangled in his bed sheets and fall over hanging half off his bed. Gabriel generally almost gets caught in his sheets and flails around like a spastic bird before he regains his footing.

Inias walked into Castiel's room and groaned. The young prince was lying on his back with one foot hanging out of his sheets and his torso exposed. Castiel was the worst to wake up because he was such a heavy sleeper.

"Castiel." Inias called loudly walking over and shaking his arm. Castiel groaned and Inias took that as a good sign. "Castiel, wake up!" Castiel rolled over with a grumble and pulled the sheets closer to his body. Inias pulled on them and Castiel growled like a feral animal but Inias kept pulling. Castiel must have decided he was too tired to bother pulling anymore because he let go of his sheets and Inias fell backwards onto his ass bringing the sheets with him. He clambered to his feet and started poking, prodding and shaking Castiel again. "Castiel it is time to wake up." He said. "Wake up or I'll drag you from the bed." He tickled Castiel's ribs and the prince jerked violently.

"Fuck you Inias." Castiel moaned in annoyance

"Such language." Inias tutted teasingly. Castiel growled.

"I don't want to get up." Castiel mumbled.

"But you must, it's the second round." Inias urged. "Also breakfast is almost finished." Castiel growled then his stomach growled.

"I'm only getting up for food." He grumbled sitting up. Inias sighed with relief.

"You are a pain to wake up." He said.

"You are a pain for waking me up." Castiel mumbled back with a yawn. "Do I have to get dressed for breakfast?"

"It is ideal." Inias replied. "Sixteen of the contestants will be in the room with us."

"Well if I have to get married to one of them they should get used to me in my pyjamas." Castiel mumbled. "Ask Gabriel if he's wearing his pyjamas."

"Gabriel!" Inias called from the door. "Are you wearing your pyjamas to breakfast?!"

"Yes!" Gabriel hollered back. "And so are Balthazar and Michael!"

"There you have it." Castiel replied. "Five more minutes." Castiel plonked back down on his bed and Inias made an irritated sound.

"Prince Castiel for a twenty two year old you behave like a child." He huffed.

"Mm, child at heart." Castiel mumbled nuzzling his pillow. Inias rolled his eyes and started tickling his sides. Castiel yelped and swatted his hands away.

"Fine, I'll get up now." He griped sliding off his bed.

"Thank you." Inias breathed. He moved towards the door and turned around to see Castiel grabbing his sheets and wrapping himself in them once more before climbing into bed.

"I swear to God Castiel…" He grumbled. Then he quirked his eyebrows at an idea. "Even waking Dean Winchester wasn't this troubling." He saw the sheets rustle and then Castiel poked his head out from them, his hair messier than before.

"Dean Winchester?" He asked. Inias smirked.

"He's cooking something with the others for breakfast." He went on. "He'll be in the room for a bit while you eat." Castiel rolled out of bed and put on a robe mainly because it was cold even though he could have just put a shirt on. He shuffled along with another yawn and Inias following behind him. Gabriel and Balthazar met him in the hall. They were all yawning and looking slightly grumpy.

"Three little princes all grumpy and tired." Inias started with a snicker. Gabriel swatted the back of his head for that.

"Three little princes all not minding their manners." Michael laughed joining his brothers and Inias. The three younger princes groaned before yawning. Michael and Inias laughed.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

Dean stood on the side wall with the other girls in the dining room. Some girls were fiddling around with their dresses obviously nervous, while some, Bela Talbot, were boasting about what they had cooked. Inias slipped into the room with the princes and King Michael. All the girls instantly stopped chattering and Dean rolled his eyes at that. Castiel caught Dean's eye and they just stared at each other. Dean stared mainly because Castiel's dark hair was sticking up and around in every possible direction. Dean had no idea why Castiel stared at him though. But it did earn him a few envious glares.

The brothers sat down but Dean just kept his eyes on Castiel because his robe had parted a little wider exposing some of his tan chest. Castiel looked at him again and Dean quickly looked away to the other girls who were all just staring at that slip of skin. Balthazar noticed.

"Cassie, do your robe up." He said. Castiel just shrugged and Dean chuckled earning a look from everyone in the room. He looked down at his feet his ears burning.

"Cassie – hey. Come on." Balthazar said so Dean lifted his head. Castiel was swatting away his older brother's hands frowning.

"Two little princes started to fight." Gabriel snickered. Castiel smacked the back of his head and Balthazar just glared. Dean put his hand over his mouth to muffle his giggles while a few girls looked down to hide their smiles. Seeing them like this was refreshing. It was a reminder that they were normal brothers despite their royalty. Dean had a warm feeling in his chest at this but then that feeling was replace with sadness as Dean realised how much he missed Sam. He dropped his hand to his side and looked away from the brothers failing to catch Castiel's look of concern.

"Breakfast is served." Inias announced coming in with the food they had made. "You remember what to do right?"

"Inias just get on with the food already." Gabriel groaned.

"Of course." Inias chuckled. He and another servant started placing down plates of food on the table. Dean watched as one of the girl's meals was placed in front of King Michael and heard a tiny gasp of surprise beside him.

"Oh crap." The girl whispered to herself.

"Hey, you probably did fine." He encouraged. "It's not like we know how they judge this round." She nodded and fiddled with her dress. Dean went back to watching Inias dish up breakfast for the brothers. He grabbed the oatmeal porridge that Dean had made and the melted cheese on bread he had made with it and, _oh that little shit_. He placed it in front of Castiel.

"Hey it has honey in it." Gabriel noted. He looked to complain but Inias gave him a wink and nodded in Dean's direction. Gabriel looked over to him then smirked. Castiel looked confused. Dean felt nervous all of a sudden, there was a churning feeling in his gut and he started drumming his fingers on the side of his leg. He swore his heart stopped beating when Castiel dipped his spoon into the porridge and started to eat it.

"Oh this is really sweet." He commented. He tried one of the cheesy bread pieces and Balthazar stole other one. "Hey!"

"I like cheese." Balthazar laughed then looked towards Dean and smirked as Gabriel had done. Both those bastards knew he made it. While Castiel had his head turned Gabriel stole a spoonful of porridge.

"Oh yum!" He exclaimed.

"Stop stealing my food." Castiel hissed. The brothers laughed and Castiel glared at them earning a few giggles from the girls and a chuckle from Dean. Inias came around to the side and started to lead them out in a line. They walked past the princes and because Dean was at the end of the line and the urge was too tempting, he reached across and ruffled Castiel's hair. The prince turned to look at him and Dean just smiled.

"You may return to your rooms." Inias said. The girls left and Inias laughed making Dean give him a questioning look. "You flirt with Prince Castiel so obviously."

"I was not flirting!" Dean exclaimed red faced. "Not at all."

"Methinks you doth protest too much." Inias teased.

"You can think what you want." Dean huffed looking away from Inias' smug face.

"Castiel liked your food." He said gently.

"How could you tell?" Dean asked.

"I just do, trust me. I've worked in the castle for years." Inias answered.

"How old are you?" Dean asked. "You don't look that old."

"I am twenty two just like Prince Castiel." Inias chuckled.

"Wait…then how long have you been a servant?" Dean asked. Inias shrugged and walked away. Dean stared after him before shrugging and going back to his room.

**|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|…|**

The rest of the day passed with a bore for Dean. Jo and Meg were in the lunch group and Adam was in the dinner group so Dean had no idea what to do while they fussed about what to make. He decided to stay in his room. He was lying on his stomach on his bed staring out the window. There was a soft tap at his door.

"Come in." He called. A young man walked in holding a piece of paper which was folded up. Dean stood up and met him at the door.

"Hello Mr Winchester, you have a letter." He said passing Dean the paper. "I am also here to inform you that the next round is a formal dinner. You will have time to get yourself prepared and ready for the dinner. There are a selection of clothes for you and the other men to choose from."

"I see, thank you." Dean replied more interested in the letter than the information on the round. The man left and closed the door while Dean sat on his bed and opened up the letter. He recognised his brother's handwriting immediately and also saw that the words were in Latin.

"Smart ass." He mumbled to himself. He wondered why Sam wrote it in Latin, his brother knew he couldn't read Latin all too well.

_'Maybe I can get Cas to translate…' _He thought. He rolled off his bed and stepped out of his room just in time to catch Inias standing at Meg's door. Maybe Inias knew Latin?

"Inias hey." He said walking towards the servant. "Can you read Latin?"

"I can but I'm quite busy sorry, you could ask Prince Balthazar, perhaps he knows." Inias answered. "He's currently in the gardens." Inias knocked on Meg's door and Dean nodded.

"Okay." He said before walking off towards the gardens. He saw Balthazar sitting down beside Gabriel, the both of them were chatting about something. He jogged over with the letter.

"Hi Gabe, Balthazar." He greeted.

"Hey Dean." They both said.

"Can either of you read this?" He asked holding out the letter. "My Latin is pretty crap."

"Let's see…" Balthazar trailed off scanning the page with his eyes. Gabriel looked over his shoulder at the letter and they both looked at each other and shrugged.

"I can literally read only one sentence." He said. "Try Cassie, he's up in the library again."

"Oh…alright, he's not busy?" Dean asked. The brothers shook their head and Dean nodded. "Thank you." He said before jogging off completely missing Gabriel and Balthazar's smirk.

"You're literally playing matchmaker." Balthazar chuckled.

"Hey, that right there is a perfect match. Have you seen how they interact?" Gabriel asked leaning back slightly.

"Mm, I wonder how this will turn out." Balthazar hummed.

Dean walked up to the library, it took a while to find but when he found it he opened the doors. Sure enough Castiel was sitting on that long two seater chair he was the last time they were in the library. He was reading a different book this time with his hand on his stomach. Dean walked over to him, he recalled the time they spent reading, well Dean listening to Castiel read, together. He wondered if there would be time to do that again, it was pretty fun and Castiel cute with the way he read.

"Hello Dean." Castiel greeted shifting his attention to him.

"Hi Cas." Dean replied with a small smile. "Uh did I interrupt you?"

"No, I'm just passing the time. Did you need something?" He asked.

"I uh got a letter from my little brother." He said.

"Sam right? Is he doing better?" Castiel asked.

"Well I don't know…I can't read Latin. I don't know why he decided to write it in Latin." Dean answered.

"Sit down, I'll read it to you." Castiel offered patting the spot beside him. Dean sat down and handed him the letter.

"Thank you." He said. Castiel smiled at him before he started to read the letter.

Outside the library Balthazar and Gabriel were standing peeking in a small crack between the doors.

"I'm sure we can open the door a little wider, they already look lost in their own little world." Balthazar griped.

"Shh." Gabriel hissed. "You don't know tha- oh they really do."

"So you visited Sam Winchester?" Balthazar asked. Gabriel nodded.

"Cute little kid, idolizes his brother but not without reason." He answered. Balthazar pushed his head down a little and Gabriel grumbled.

"Well I can't see unless you decide to open the door wider." Balthazar hissed. They both grumbled and then focused on their brother and Dean. The two were sitting side by side with Castiel reading the letter to Dean. Dean was smiling probably from the content of the letter and he was looking directly at Castiel.

"Castiel is really fond of Dean." Balthazar whispered.

"Yes, which is why I had Sam write the letter in Latin so that Dean would have to go and see Castiel again." Gabriel whispered back.

"I hope in the end they choose each other, I mean look at how in love they are." Balthazar sighed as Castiel looked to Dean after finishing the letter most likely.

"Oop they made eye contact again." Gabriel commented. They watched the two talk for a bit before they just sat there staring at each other.

"Do you think they're going to kiss?" Balthazar whispered.

"Shh!" Gabriel hissed. Castiel shuffled a little closer to Dean and Dean moved his head a little closer. They were both staring into each other's eyes not even daring to break eye contact. They inched closer and closer…then-

"What are you doing?" Balthazar jumped with a yell of surprise and managed to knock over Gabriel who brought him down with him. The two tumbled through the now open door to the library startling Dean and Castiel who jumped away from each other. Gabriel looked up at Inias who had been the one to disturb them.

"Inias!" He hissed. Inias looked over to Dean and Castiel and smiled before he chuckled.

"I apologise, the lunch group has almost finished lunch." Inias announced. "Dean, lunch is ready in the food hall."

"Ah right, thanks Inias." Dean said scratching the back of his neck. "Thanks Cas." He said quickly before darting out of the room leaving the letter behind accidently. Castiel picked it up and sighed.

"Alright, take us to lunch." He mumbled.


End file.
